Glory dreams of becoming a Spherinaut and searching for and studying magical creatures. Her mom is the greatest Spherinaut today and people across all the lands reference the Brown Books her ancestors have written to navigate an uncertain world. Glory knows something strange is going on with magic as she’s frightened by a small, tree-like creature in the Light Inn’s garden. Most of the monsters she knows are friends to humans but there are level four beasts that are wild and dangerous. There’s clearly a surge of feral monsters happening but this outbreak doesn’t seem to be from natural causes.
All children are born with Moxie which Glory’s parents believe is connected to curiosity. Older people lose their Moxie so readers might infer this means adults are less inquisitive. For some reason, monsters are repelled by Moxie so Glory feels protected from potential dangers she might face in the world. Glory’s mind tends to jump around from thought to thought, her father calls it mazy head, and he often reminds her to slow down. Young readers will admire Glory’s desire to find answers and her determination to explore the Outersphere. Her family’s motto is “Let kindness be your guiding light and knowledge be your shelter”. Glory’s an obedient daughter and is proud that she doesn’t know how to lie but is she willing to disobey her parents and help a person in need? Glory is another young character in a middle-grade book who doesn’t fully appreciate the lethal threats lurking beyond her safe haven.
The story has an underlying plot of mystery and intrigue. The unnatural surge of monsters has everyone worried and trying to understand its cause. Glory’s mother believes it’s related to the mining of magical siphonite leaving pockets under the ground. Readers will slowly suspect something suspicious is going on with the siphoning of magic. Gertrude Paxton, former head of the Dominicule of Siphonry, is vying for more power and Glory hears the woman’s name or reads about her everywhere. Then there’s Marcus, the Parliament student Glory is helping. He’s wearing a cursed charm and was told to deliver a secret message but he won’t say who gave it to him. Glory touched the charm once so she’s now cursed too. These events describe a secret conspiracy and Glory finds herself thrown into the middle of it.
What didn’t work as well:
The relationship between Glory and Marcus is puzzling at times. They’re working together to break Marcus’s curse but manage to bicker over comments each other makes. Also, Glory gives him a hard time about the effects of his curse but there’s little talk about the fact that she’s cursed too. Some of their comments are confusing.
The final verdict:
This adventure/mystery will entertain young readers as the characters attempt to discover the cause of the monster surge. Magic is used as an energy source but the characters can’t use it as their own special powers. It’s an interesting twist on magic and a select school for young characters and I recommend you give it a shot.

Middle grade fantasy is not my usual genre, so I find myself reading with a new set of eyes. I thought Williams did a nice job with this story. It has all the usual elements of fantasy: worldbuilding, uniqueness of characters and place, magic, distinct setting. Nothing novel, but this is a satisfying read for lovers of fantasy and great for middle schoolers.

A very unique and engaging MG fantasy series with a diverse case and genuinely original world build. Glory Brown lives in the Seam, one of many worlds within the outersphere that have been populated as humans have left Earth (seemingly in an attempt to flee unrelenting racism). The Seam is a relatively safe world with few dangerous monsters and where monsterfolk (essentially oversized talking animals) are seen as peers and community members. However not all worlds are safe and not all monsters are friendly, which makes travel between the worlds dangerous and even deadly. Children, however, naturally produce Moxie, a magical component that deters monsters but which disappears as children age. As such, some children, called junior spherinauts, are used to ferry information and packages throughout the outersphere. Glory badly wants to be one of these children, as her mother was, but she is continually kept at home where her parents run an inn that is famous for producing the Brown Book, a magical inheritor of Earth's Green Book, which guides readers to safely traverse monster infested spaces. When a visiting cursed junior spherinaut accidentally spreads his curse to Glory, the two race to the Parliamentarium (the HQ for junior spherinauts) and stumble into a dangerous and galaxy changing plot.

The story pulls from a lot of common tropes, but does so in a unique and refreshing way. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.