Starred Review Finlay and Honey Bee meet when his orphanage and her boarding school face off in Spindrift's local track-and-field tournament. This kicks off an escalating chain of class-driven prank warfare between the two schools til an actual war breaks out across the various magical kingdoms of their land. Children are being kidnapped by mind-controlling Whisperers, whose nation is in league with witches, ghouls, and violent radish gnomes. When Finlay, Honey Bee, and their classmates are visited by two children from the future (including Bronte from Moriarty's 2018 series starter The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone), they are tasked with rescuing the stolen children and ending the war. Their mission requires the events to be recorded, so the story is presented in delightfully self-aware epistolary chapters, alternating between Finlay and Honey Bee. Moriarty works wonders with this form, weaving it seamlessly into the narrative without sacrificing excitement, and the two protagonists put on a true show with their playful back-and-forth. It's a wickedly clever book chored by rich world building and several vibrant, quirky, sympathetic characters d while touching lightly on the injustices of war and social class, it manages to be sheer fun without sacrificing emotional weight. This novel stands perfectly alone, but readers won't be able to resist the call to return to such a wonderfully magical world.

Moriarty returns to the magical universe of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone (rev. 9/18) in this companion novel. The town of Spindrift, in the Kingdom of Storms, is under siege as nefarious actors from the neighboring Whispering Kingdom begin kidnapping children and waging war via mind control. Seven children, from Spindrift's impoverished orphanage school and snooty boarding school, join forces to foil the Whisperers, aided by mysterious visitors from the future (whom readers of the first book will recognize). Orphan Finlay and boarder Honey Bee take turns narrating; their very distinct (and often humorous) voices and sympathetic personalities are the novel's strength, and readers will be as interested in the gradual burgeoning of their friendship as in the tale's nonstop dramatic events. Moriarty introduces relevant messages such as the dangers of judging individuals by where they come from, but the messages are incorporated organically into the story; the many twists and turns of the plot will keep readers turning pages till the triumphant end.

Young people from two schools in the town of Spindrift form an alliance to save children pressed into creating magical weapons for the enemy as war breaks out.Finlay, from the Orphanage, and Honey Bee, from the Brathelthwaite School, document the story of the war's beginning, describing their roles in the resistance in alternating chapters. The Whisperers, the residents of a heretofore-benign neighboring kingdom, are now involved in the disappearance of children, and a vicious influenza outbreak is revealed to be a kind of biological warfare. As familiar Spindrift citizens with Shadow Magic origins are rounded up and imprisoned and attacks increase around the kingdom, the terror of war begins to reveal itself. The collaborative account details the complexities of this world's magic types and beings, differences between the residential schools (the Orphanage for poor children; Brathelthwaite for quite well-off ones), and the various horrors that accompany the start of a war no one wants. Viewpoints stay firmly with Finlay and Honey Bee in ways both hilarious and poignant, with many digs at assumptions that wealthier is better. The cast assumes a white default, with clever, dark-skinned Glim, one of the Orphanage children, an exception.
This jam-packed, imaginative adventure is magically immersive and entertaining. (Fantasy. 9-12)

Gr 4-7 The town of Spindriftindeed, the whole Kingdom of Gusts, Gales, Squalls, and Violent Stormsis caught up in a magical war, which includes disappearing children and a terrible flu epidemic, and it's up to an uneasy alliance of children to save the day. The wealthy and privileged Brathelthwaite Boarding School students, led by kind-hearted Honey Bee, and the poor and plucky Orphanage School students, led by fiercely loyal and protective Finley, initially clash but ultimately work together to figure out what's going on and how to stop it. They are aided by two children from the future (fans will be overjoyed to reconnect with Bronte and Alejandro from The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone ), who are attempting to change the past and figure out the mystery of Alejandro's parents. By the extremely satisfying end, many mysteries are solved. Told in turns by Honey Bee and Finlay, with help from one or two others, this companion novel stands alone nicely, though newcomers will clamor for book one. The girls in the story have the edgeHoney Bee turns out to have amazing magical gifts, shy Glim bonds with wild dragons and saves the kidnapped children, and most of the adults in positions of authority are women. There are instances of violence, kidnapping, mind-control, segregation and internment of minorities, and a suggestion of physical abuse of children. VERDICT Fans of Diana Wynne Jones will find much to like in this fast-paced, emotion-packed blend of adventure, comedy, and fantasy, which includes more than a little food for thought. Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library