by Polly Shulman
For a librarian, someone who has worked for the New York Public Library system and toured the underground (deeply underground) stacks of books and objects, and a huge fan of fairytale reinventions, this book is a perfect match. I thoroughly enjoyed the capers and the many magical aspects of the storyline. This is another one that I can easily recommend to readers who want fantasy stories firmly inserted into their real world experiences. The clean high school romances, the school basketball games, and the use of electronic devices will speak to contemporary twin readers. The threads of the mystery are intriguing the first 2/3 of the story. The last 1/3 becomes a little less skillfully laid out: once all the red herrings are eliminated and the true villain is identified, the story loses a little bit of momentum. But thanks to the few super fun elements (Elizabeth’s losing her sense of direction, the bottomless box, and the whole idea of all those people turned into figurines for centuries, for example,) I was not bored. It is, however, a little of a let down to see that the author could not seem to come up with a better or really clever way to get rid of the villain and had to employ a deus ex machina in the form of one of the minor characters and a realm that was never introduced previously in the story. Nonetheless, I am still excited about the companion book that is to be released this June, The Wells Bequest. I can’t wait to go back to this fantastic library and see what the imaginative mind of Polly Shulman has concocted for the readers.
Fairrosa Cyber Library 