ALA Booklist (Wed Feb 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

In Aguiar's satisfying finale to her Tamarind trilogy, Penny returns to the magical island seven years after Secrets of Tamarind (2011). Now 12, Penny misses the magic and excitement of Tamarind, but mostly she misses how her family used to be. Maya and Simon have left home, and Granny Pearl is frail and forgetful. When Granny Pearl tells Penny how to find Tamarind, Penny steals the rowboat one night and finds a coastal town where everyone is preparing for the rare Great Wave. A competition is underway to choose one person to capture the magical Bloom inside the Wave, which will stabilize the island, currently endangered by chaotic portals, but Penny believes if she catches the Bloom, she could save her grandmother. Spirited Penny proves her bravery and heart while learning to understand and accept change. This volume works equally well as a standalone and a series conclusion (longtime fans will rejoice at Helix's return). With heartfelt emotion, an exotic setting, and a mix of wilderness survival and fantasy quest, this has something for everyone.

Horn Book (Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2018)

On a mission for her aging grandmother, Penny (a baby in The Lost Island of Tamarind) finds herself back on the magical island, where she undergoes trials to become the one to dive into a great wave and keep Tamarind--and her grandmother--safe. With its richly developed world, believable characters, and increasing intensity, this fine conclusion to the trilogy can also stand alone.

Kirkus Reviews

Seven years after siblings Maya, Simon, and Penny visited the mysterious island of Tamarind in The Secrets of Tamarind (2011), Penny, now 12, returns alone on her own perilous, life-changing adventure. With Maya and Simon grown up, Penny lives with her preoccupied scientist parents and her beloved but aging grandmother, who's becoming weak, confused, and forgetful. One night Granny Pearl warns Penny of an ominous upcoming event and tells her she must go to Tamarind immediately because there's something only she can do. Bravely, Penny heads out in a rowboat, crossing the Blue Line into Tamarind. Penny arrives in time to participate in a competition to select the next Bloom Catcher who will retrieve the magical Bloom from the Great Wave, saving Tamarind from a cunning, enigmatic, destructive mandrill. Hoping to win the competition and collect the Bloom to restore Granny, Penny proves she's a heroine in her own right, tackling the competition's grueling challenges, making new friends, reuniting with an old ally, and emerging as part of something big and important. Sensory descriptions of imaginary flora, fantastic fauna, and vivid landscapes plus an atmosphere charged with impending danger add to Tamarind's allure. Penny's possible Latina heritage is hinted at in her use of "Mami" and "Papi" to call her parents but is otherwise unexplored. This exciting, fast-paced, satisfying finale to the Tamarind trilogy does not disappoint. (map) (Fantasy. 10-14)