Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review In the land of Nedarra, six governing species reign supreme, but the dairnes cross between dog and sugar glider e critically endangered. Hunted by humans to obscurity, the remaining dairnes have left their treetop nests for more concealed abodes on the ground. Byx is the runt of her pack and highly curious about the world around her. When she sneaks out to explore one day, she rescues a wobbyk (imagine a silvery-blue chinchilla) named Tobble from a group of poachers, only to return home to the horror of finding her entire pack slaughtered by human soldiers. Byx flees with Khara e poachers' young guide d Tobble, but the unusual group is brought up short by unsettling news: Byx may be an endling, the last of her species. What follows is a dangerous, heart-stopping quest to stay alive and find an elusive island where dairnes are still rumored to live. Applegate (Wishtree, 2017) effortlessly constructs her fantasy world, briskly moving readers through its imaginative details while creating winning, unique characters. Readers expecting a whimsical animal adventure should be warned that the pervading tone is dark, calling attention to humans' greed and lust for power. Yet, Khara proves a loyal friend, as do others in Byx's unlikely crew. This epic series starter is a bracing, propulsive read that will be a challenge to keep on the shelf.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

What do you do when you're the last of your kind?Applegate transports her readers to a new land, one inhabited by numerous sentient species, six of which have fought to the top of the food chain: humans, dairnes, felivets, natites, terramants, and raptidons. In this world, readers meet Byx, a dairne—a doglike creature that walks erect, glides like a flying squirrel, and has opposable thumbs—on the day she becomes the last of her species. It's also a day when Byx meets two other creatures: Tobble, a wobbyk, with large ears and a short round body, and Khara (short for Kharassande), a 14-year-old, brown-skinned human girl who pretends to be a boy so that she is not limited by the gendered rules of human society. Bonded through lifesaving acts, the three embark on a journey to find Ferrucci the Gharri, a scientist and scholar who may be able to protect Byx from a human emperor who is hellbent on killing off her entire species. Applegate skillfully builds a fully realized world of intrigue and wonder without ever letting up on the story's quick pace. Themes of genocide, conservation, and magic are interwoven, providing thought-provoking questions for astute readers and educators.A savvy choice for readers of fantasy; individual readers and book clubs will love it and demand to know when the sequel will be available. (Fantasy. 8-11)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

What do you do when you're the last of your kind?Applegate transports her readers to a new land, one inhabited by numerous sentient species, six of which have fought to the top of the food chain: humans, dairnes, felivets, natites, terramants, and raptidons. In this world, readers meet Byx, a dairne—a doglike creature that walks erect, glides like a flying squirrel, and has opposable thumbs—on the day she becomes the last of her species. It's also a day when Byx meets two other creatures: Tobble, a wobbyk, with large ears and a short round body, and Khara (short for Kharassande), a 14-year-old, brown-skinned human girl who pretends to be a boy so that she is not limited by the gendered rules of human society. Bonded through lifesaving acts, the three embark on a journey to find Ferrucci the Gharri, a scientist and scholar who may be able to protect Byx from a human emperor who is hellbent on killing off her entire species. Applegate skillfully builds a fully realized world of intrigue and wonder without ever letting up on the story's quick pace. Themes of genocide, conservation, and magic are interwoven, providing thought-provoking questions for astute readers and educators.A savvy choice for readers of fantasy; individual readers and book clubs will love it and demand to know when the sequel will be available. (Fantasy. 8-11)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

The gripping first installment of Applegate-s (The One and Only Ivan) new fantasy trilogy assembles a motley crew in a suspenseful, tautly drawn quest. The narrative centers on Byx, the 11-year-old runt of a litter of an almost extinct, threatened species of dairnes-highly intelligent doglike creatures who walk upright and can talk, glide, and distinguish any lie. When the curious Byx ventures beyond the confines of her pack-s carefully hidden home, she saves a humorously polite creature, a wobbyk named Tobble, meets a 14-year-old tracker named Khara disguised as a boy, and misses the slaughter of her community that leaves her the last of her kind, an endling. The conflicting motivations of the strongly drawn characters prove compelling as Khara captures the grieving Byx and Tobble to take them to an island city to consult a scholar whom Khara believes will save Byx (while paying a hefty price). Persuasive emotional underpinnings give depth and urgency to the adventure as the team unites against sinister forces. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (May)