Starred Review ALA Booklist (Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 CST 2017)

Starred Review Oona is lucky to have grown up in the relative luxury of Sand Dancer Academy, though she's clumsy and the last person anyone would expect to have any special powers. An Tzu ekes out a meager life in the slums surrounding the academy, and when Toki rebels from one of the moons making up the five worlds attack the main power station, he and Oona ong with Jax Amboy, an athlete with a serious secret nd themselves unexpectedly at the center of the conflict. Together, they navigate the city under siege, flee Toki forces curiously insistent on capturing Oona, and try to make sense of some enigmatic clues they discover along the way. The Siegels' immersive series starter drops readers right into the midst of its fully fleshed-out world, a multiplanet system with simmering conflicts that might look awfully familiar to contemporary readers. When those conflicts come to a head, the disarray in the city is terrifying, which only amplifies the suspense of Oona, An Tzu, and Jax's quest. Bouma, Matt Rockefeller, and Boya Sun's richly detailed panels, filled with fluid shapes, swirling sand, and clearly depicted action, imbue the narrative with vivid, compelling atmosphere, while their figures are refreshingly varied in size, shape, and skin tone. With sensitive writing, gorgeous artwork, and a riveting plot, this is a series to keep an eye on.

Kirkus Reviews

A sudden attack on the world of Mon Domani and its inhabited moons drives a young dancer, a street urchin, and an illegal android together.Many pages are crowded with sequential panels that are too small to fit the dialogue balloons or convey the hot action discernibly, but the overall plotline is easy enough to follow. Though generally mocked as a poor student of sand dancing—a psychokinetic art that uses hand and body movements to conjure solid "aniforms" from mystic vapors—next to her vanished big sister, Jessa, Oona Lee finds her powers growing as mysterious forces work to prevent the relighting of giant, long-dark Beacons that may stave off the growing environmental instability that is threatening all five worlds. With but little time to address the crisis by learning how to dance up a mighty Sand Warrior aniform and rediscover the lost technique of Beacon lighting, Oona is plunged into a running battle with minions of the Mimic, an ancient shape-changing nemesis. The three illustrators work seamlessly together to place Oona, a thick-bodied but graceful, pale-skinned strawberry blonde, in exotic, elaborately envisioned settings and surround her with a notably variegated cast of green-, blue-, brown-, black-, and pink-skinned allies and adversaries. The climax features a shocking revelation but leaves one Beacon lit with four to go: stay tuned. A headlong, if visually busy, opener for what promises to be a rare adventure. (Graphic science fiction. 10-13)

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

In a dazzling interplanetary fantasy from the Siegel Brothers, artists Bouma, Rockefeller, and Sun bring to life the cultures, customs, and creatures of a lively new world that will easily appeal to fans of Naruto or Avatar: The Last Airbender. Oona Lee-s older sister, Jessa, was their planet-s most promising sand dancer before she disappeared; awkward Oona can-t even control the sand figures she summons. Their planet, Mon Domani, is beset by cascading environmental crises, and Oona and her classmates are meant to help light an ancient beacon that may bring the galaxy back into balance. But Toki, a rival moon, chooses this moment to attack. In the chaos, Oona finds two allies-An Tzu, a fiercely loyal thief from the planet-s slums, and Jax Amboy, a sports superstar-who recognize gifts in Oona that she doesn-t see. Explosions, attacks, and evildoing are relieved by neatly timed interludes in tranquil settings. The main characters share an unglamorous, pre-

School Library Journal (Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Gr 3-5Oona Lee is a less than successful sand dancer. She can't always control the creatures, called aniforms, that she creates from sand, and others make fun of her. As the plot unfolds, readers discover that Oona Lee lives in the Five Worlds, a galaxy of five planets populated by various species and races, and unless the five ancient beacons are lit, the worlds may be in danger. When Oona meets up with a poor boy named An Tzu and a famous athlete named Jax Amboy, the three of them realize that they might be able to light the beacons and change the destiny of the Five Worlds. Adorable, cartoonish illustrations bring color and life to this action-packed story that's reminiscent of the animated TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender. With lots of characters, backstories, and settings, this is a sweeping narrative, and readers may need time to absorb it all. VERDICT For thoughtful fans of fantasy, friendship, and mystical stories.Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library