Milo Bolt steps onto centre stage with this fifth instalment in the “Pages & Co.” series. He and Alessia della Porta want to find a cure for his uncle Horatio, and that entails meeting the Botanist, sworn enemy of the Alchemist, Allessia's father.

The pair arrive at the Treehouse Library, and Milo also gets a chance to meet his grandmother Lina. It's not exactly the loving family reunion he hoped for, as Lina has a long acquaintance with the Alchemist, and does not see the man as the villain the two kids do.

Regardless, Milo, Allessia and Rose, the Botanist, need to find some esoteric ingredients to make the cure, and can only find them within books, so off they go, travelling to several stories, starting with the Secret Garden, then a fight with the Jabberwock, then the boat to Owl and Pussycat travel on, and finally to a competition to meet Robin Hood. They're under a time crunch, too, as the Alchemist has threatened to harm the Pages if he does not get what he wants, The Book of Books.

Milo is such a kindhearted person, making Alessia's more sarcastic and clinical approach to things a nice contrast to his unwillingness to cause harm. Their different approaches work well, enabling them to successfully get what they need for the cure, and Rosa is a nice addition to their team. She's somewhat enigmatic, but thankfully, an adult the kids can rely on, unlike others all the kids, including Tilly and Oscar, have encountered on their bookwandering adventures.

This is the penultimate story in this series, and it does a nice job of both fleshing out and giving us two more characters to care about, but also for us to grasp just how terrible the Alchemist is (if it wasn't already clear from the previous book) and how morally grey people like Horatio and Lina are.

I'm a little sad that I'm just about finished this series, but also eager to get to book six!

Thank you to Netgalley and to PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

AMAZING as usual. Anna James really has a talent. Loved that she incorporated old myths and fairytales and new technology. Original and incredible. Definable recommend.

I received an electronic ARC from PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group through NetGalley.
The fifth in this series focuses on Milo and Alessia. They succeed in locating the Botanist and work with her to find the cure ingredients to wake up Milo's Uncle Horatio. Both Milo and Alessia learn what it is to be accepted for who they are and encouraged to grow and become who they are meant to be. By the end of the book, Tilly and Oskar have joined them, and the five of them set off to find the Book of Books. Some will be surprised to learn who the Anonymous Reader is and others will have suspected since the last book.
James continues to draw readers in to be book wanderers along with her characters.