July 15, 2021
Flick Hudson and Jonathan Mercator are back, responding to another crisis of magic in the multiverse. Flick hasn't been in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, where members travel between worlds via suitcase, since the adventure that revealed her uncommon powers--and kept her out overnight, to her parents' dismay. Fortunately, college student Jonathan, Strangeworlds' custodian since the disappearance of his father, sweet-talks Flick's mother--and just in time, as a letter from a watery world of mer-folk and pirates alerts them to an emergency. The two of them, plus Jonathan's cousin Avery, who is visiting from her own world, set off to help. These books, like Jonathan himself, are both firmly old-fashioned and thoroughly modern. Flick helps navigate tense politics, pushes herself to face new challenges (both magical and practical), and reflects on the ways in which her world is inclined to waste and pollution; all of this flows naturally from her character, because Flick--like many readers--has worries about family, finances, and the state of the planet. Meanwhile, a larger mystery continues to simmer. Jonathan is cued as queer, while Flick and Avery navigate a mutual attraction, elements that are woven seamlessly into the story. There are limited physical descriptions; Avery has black hair and light brown skin. Fantastic, from start to (the zinger of a) finish. (map) (Fantasy. 9-14)
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