Starred Review Tongue firmly planted in cheek, Grant sends a lad with a serious case of mediumness up against not only the minions of an ageless and evil Pale Queen but also a truly impressive list of phobias in this opener to the Magnificent 12 series. Prompted by the urgent warnings of an ancient, spectral mage (In just a few months the Dread Foe will be loosed in all her fury, all her rage, all her sphincter-clenching, heart-clutching, throat-gobbling, spit-drying, blood-freezing, bowel-loosening terror!), a murder attempt, and the arrival of plane tickets with a million-dollar debit card, Mack sets out for Australia. This is just the first leg of a mission to gather the other 11 supposed Magnifica necessary to defeat the evil that is about to escape 3,000 years of imprisonment. Hooking up with the first of his allies entails not only long, screaming drops into the ocean (Mack is powerfully thalassophobic) and down a shaft into a cave beneath Uluru (he is also awfully claustrophobic) but also battles with a variety of the queen's magical warriors and an encounter with her daughter, Ereskigal insanely beautiful young sorceress with the eating habits of a female praying mantis. Grant fills out the historical backstory for this promising scenario in alternating flashback chapters, provides a sturdy supporting cast for his reluctant young hero, and keeps up the rapid pace from first page to last. A terrific start, with an elaborate website festooned with games and contests to ease the wait for sequels.

One by one, the teenagers of Ireland are called to the nightmarish Grey Land of the Smdhe (wicked fae). The teens reappear after only three minutes, but with magically misshapen bodies--or dead. Readers follow a class of fourteen-year-olds, including Nessa, with polio-twisted legs, as they experience the Call in a grisly and gripping plot reminiscent of Battle Royale.

Vanessa Doherty is a 14-year-old white lass who attends Boyle Survival College, one of many in Ireland that serve only to teach its youth how to survive the Call of the Sídhe. The Sídhe are magical beings who were, in a distant past, banished from Ireland to live in a hellish netherworld. Seeking revenge, the Sídhe kidnap Ireland's youth via the Call: the dreaded, unexpected moment when an adolescent simply disappears from Earth to land in a dreamlike, horrific underworld full of monsters—and the carnivorous Sídhe. From the age of 10, the Call is the moment every young person trains to survive, even grimly determined Nessa, who is permanently disabled from polio and can only navigate the training on crutches. One by one, students vanish, sometimes forever, into the Grey Land of the Sídhe. O'Guilin creates some suspenseful moments with his concept, but from its onset, the book recalls such predecessors as The Hunger Games or Divergent, in which young people undergo military-style training only to wind up in a bloody carnage, whether it's among themselves or at the hands of their enemies. Where the book excels is in its worldbuilding, which imagines a realistically multicultural, modern Ireland unified by the Call and where the Irish language is no longer spoken and Sídhe is replacing English. Though the plot is not terrifically original, readers will root for the book's disabled protagonist to survive. (Fantasy. 12-16)

This intense, riveting tale is set in an Ireland that the Sídhe, Irish faeries, have cut off from the rest of the world, plotting to retake their former home through a grim war of attrition that involves kidnapping human teenagers. During the -Call,- teens disappear -for a little over three minutes, but in world, the Grey Land, an entire day has passed, panic and pain in every second of it.- When the stolen teens reappear, they are usually dead and/or horribly mutated by magic. All Irish children attend special centers where they-re taught martial arts, the Sídhe language, and total ruthlessness. Nessa, already relegated to crutches due to polio (Ireland-s isolation means no imported vaccines-or anything else), seems unlikely to survive her Call, but has dedicated everything to doing so. O-Guilin (The Inferior) follows several teens, including Nessa, over into the Grey Land, delivering blisteringly fast-paced and graphic descriptions of the tortures the children endure. This is a bleak, gripping story, one where only the most muted of happy endings is possible. Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

Gr 9 Up-Set in Ireland, this fantasy horror novel introduces readers to a freaky reality: at any given time, on any given day, a teen's world will go black, and when her senses return, she realizes she is naked and alone. She has been Called to the Grey Land. Nessa, a 14-year-old girl living with the aftereffects of polio, and her best friend Megan attend Boyle Survival College to prepare themselves for their Call. At this boarding school, they learn about the fairy enemies (the Sidhe, based on traditional Irish folklore) and practice survival and defensive techniques. The students who have lived through the Call return disfigured and emotionally broken, but it is through their accounts that others can prepare for the torture they face. Nessa works her hardest so that her limited mobility does not become a deterrent to her survival. Amid a colorful cast of supporting charactersincluding Anto, her pacifist love interest, and Connor, the egotistical bullythe dangers facing Nessa aren't limited to just those that await her in the Grey Land. The third-person narrative allows readers to identify with each of the characters. The Irish vernacular and vivid descriptions place teens in the heart of the island. Horror fans will love the grotesque world of Sidhe, where monsters and animals are made from twisted human bodies and body parts. Nessa is a resourceful character, often inventing creative ways to survive the same obstacles as her peers in order to prepare herself for the Call. The novel's strengths are its strong imagery and diverse cast of characters, who represent different ethnicities and sexual identities. However, the denouement is too quick and underdeveloped. The language, sex, violence, and world of the Grey Land are more appropriate for mature fantasy fans. VERDICT For those craving a new Hunger Games -esque thriller.— Stephanie DeVincentis, Downers Grove North High School, IL