A fun fantasy novel for kids, enough turns to keep you reading and a few laughs too. Great for kids getting in to reading for pleasure

This book is a fairly even mix of the good and the bad. The story is interesting and stands well as a middle grade portal fantasy. The characters are allowed to be flawed, and the mythology makes sense. I also really enjoyed that the premise is about a (sadly) actually extinct species. The flaws aren’t really that big a deal. There were some mixed up tenses and such. Personal issues I had were that the characters are flawed in a way that I, personally, didn’t enjoy (which is why it’s taken me so long to read, but I digress), and that I’m also not happy about the ending, though I understand why the author made the choices that she did.

I’m a little torn about whether to recommend this book or not. The story is interesting, the characters are mostly likeable. The villains are unquestionably bad, but some also still get to grow and change (possibly more so than some of the other characters).Knowing what I know now, would I have still chosen to read it? I’m not sure. Do I regret reading it? No. It was a good story and I genuinely really enjoyed some bits. I even thought for awhile that I may eventually re-read it, but the ending changed my opinion on that. I guess that means that I’d recommend it after all, at last if you’re interested in the premise, or portal fantasies in general. Just be aware that the ending is likely to be a bit polarizing, so you’ll probably either love it or hate it.

Trigger Warnings for death of a loved one, animal predation, abduction/kidnapping, loss of a child, gaslighting.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and Nimbus Publishing for the early copy. This has been my honest review.

While this wasn't the best fantasy novel I've read lately but it was fun and easy to follow along with,
The storyline was spread out so that nothing got boring and the characters were well developed and fun