Abstract
Reviewed by: Cinders & Sparrows by Stefan Bachmann April Spisak Bachmann, Stefan Cinders & Sparrows. Greenwillow, 2020 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9780062289957 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780062289971 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 4-7 The set-up is a familiar one: an orphan has no idea of her birthright until a mysterious stranger shows up to inform her of her destiny. Suddenly, Zita is heiress to a castle, learning to develop her innate skills as a witch and exposed to a whole world beyond the orphanage where she was raised. Fortunately, she meets two other children in the castle who try to help her navigate a significant and foreboding [End Page 71] mystery that involves her new caretaker, an uprising of ghosts, and a terrifying being that was responsible for leading her away from her home so many years ago. Bachmann balances horror, magic, and a coming of age story with aplomb, allowing each room to develop within this novel: the book chillingly evokes Zita's loss and despair, brings in the fantasy as needed, and keeps Zita the core of the novel, bolstered by others but ultimately responsible for herself and the courage she can muster out of her own depths. As this promises to be a stand-alone novel, readers may be disappointed they won't meet with Zita again, but this is a complete story well told, and Zita's happy ending is a worthy one. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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