The second volume in Frontier Magic, a highly original, alternate-history fantasy series set on the western frontier during the 1800s, again features 18-year-old Eff as narrator. Unconvinced that she should study advanced magic at a university back East like her twin brother, Eff stays behind. After assisting a professor in a dangerous journey of research and discovery beyond the Mammoth River, a boundary dividing her magically protected country from the largely unknown dangers in the wilds beyond, she journeys eastward to see her gravely injured brother. Readers of Thirteenth Child (2009) will find Eff's new adventures even more compelling.

Eff (Thirteenth Child) joins a scientific expedition collecting flora and fauna (magical and otherwise). Her experiences involve a shootout with sabre cats and a magic-and-revolver tussle with a creature that turns its prey to stone. Wrede continues her story of Eff's maturation in an alternate magical U.S. frontier; some of the enjoyment lies in recognizing geographical and cultural features adapted from our world.

Eff, now a young woman, has overcome her fear that she is fatally unlucky; now it's time for her to figure out who she's going to be (Thirteenth Child, 2009). Her staggeringly talented twin brother is off to college back east, but Eff, despite her newly discovered magical potential, is disinclined to follow. She begins working at the local land-grant college's menagerie of creatures, both magical and ordinary, from the other side of the Great Barrier Spell. Her intelligence and expertise with animals make her an ideal assistant for an expedition beyond the Barrier, and off she goes into this dangerous, beckoning territory, observing, thinking and growing ever more confident. The other primary members of the expedition, Professor Torgeson from New Vineland, and Washington Morris, the Aphrikan-Columbian circuit-rider magician, provide sturdy support to both Eff and the narrative. Eff is entirely fresh: She has no Destiny, cannot be summed up as "plucky" and discovers herself and her world slowly and naturally. In conceptualizing her Frontier Magic series, Wrede made the controversial decision not to populate her Columbian continent with indigenous peoples. Readers uncomfortable with this will find no hasty palliative change; readers less sensitive to the issue will find themselves grateful for every minute they spend with the deliberate, observant and loving Eff. Splendid worldbuilding and deliciously complex characterization continue to be the hallmarks of this standout fantasy. (Steampunk. 12-18)

A sequel to Thirteenth Child, this adventure is set in an alternate 19th-century America where prehistoric mammals and dangerous magical creatures coexist. Eighteen-year-old Eff Rothmer is still getting used to the idea that she has managed to save a good part of the frontier from deadly magical mirror bugs. Unwilling to accompany her twin brother, Lan, to a university back east, she yearns to cross the Great Barrier Spell to the frontier. ("I didn't think the Settlement Office would hire a girl fresh out of upper school with no experience and no great knack for magic to be a circuit magician," she thinks.) Soon, however, Eff once again heads west as part of a scientific expedition, where she discovers bizarre phenomena and hitherto unknown creatures, some of which will put the settlers in deadly peril. Eff's narrative voice is warm and colloquial, and Wrede's descriptions of an imaginary American continent are taut and scrupulously detailed. Strong secondary characters, compelling use of magical elements, and a pensive portrayal of how serious scientists and magicians might ply their trade result in a layered historical fantasy. Ages 12-up. (Aug.)

Gr 6 Up-In The Thirteenth Child (Scholastic, 2009), Eff came of age and defied everyone's low expectations by saving the town of Mill River with an amazing feat of magic. Now she is 18. Some folks want her to do great things&30;others hope she will fail miserably and prove that the Mill River incident was just a fluke. And Eff? Her greatest wish is to explore the wild world beyond the Great Barrier, a magical wall that protects against the most dangerous magical creatures. Eff gets her wish when she is selected to accompany a scientific expedition into the wilderness. Her story continues in the measured pace of the first book, but fantasy lovers willing to take the time will find Wrede's alternative world of the Wild West richly rewarding. Across the Great Barrier can be read as a stand-alone, though readers already familiar with the characters and previous events are the most likely audience. Eliza Langhans, Hatfield Public Library, MA