A Reasonably Fresh Approach to Some Well Traveled Roads

Middle grade books that revolve around the characters' gifts can be all over the place. You can play it for adventure/laughs, like Brandon Sanderson's very amusing "Alcatraz" series. You can go for charm and low-key adventure, like Ingrid Law's southern-fried "Savvy" books. You can make the gifts simple or complicated, mild or world-changing. Here, we have a wide array of particularly fantastic gifts and a plot that spans alternate worlds. Because the gifts are interesting, the worlds are well developed, and the two heroes are a cut above the usual, this book, and the series of which it is a part, struck me as both fine and intriguing.

First off, we have two decent principal characters. Fourteen year old Phillip is gifted with the ability to travel anywhere he can locate on his map. Phillip is driven to find and rescue his missing, kidnapped father. Natalie has the ability to "borrow" other people's gifts, and occasionally has plot advancing visions. While Phillip is hot headed and impulsive Natalie is calm and patient, but also seems made of sterner and tougher stuff, mentally, than Phillip. They have a clear and innocent affection for each other and make an excellent team, especially with the touch of teasing and needling that is included in their banter. To my mind they made fine adventure, and reading, companions.

The gifts are interesting and cover the gamut. Random "gifted" tend to show up when needed to advance the story, but I don't mind a "utility belt" approach to this kind of plot device as long as it fits within the larger story, which it does here.

And that plot is fairly standard. Two "bad" gifteds are stealing the gifts of other gifteds. That's why the series is "The Hidden Gifted". Until the good guys figure out how to disarm or defeat the two bad guys the good guys are in hiding. Each book in the series has a book length arc that turns on some quest and battle with the bad guys, and the overarching arc of the series addresses if, and how, the good gifteds will defeat the bad guys. It's standard, sure, but basically the same plot was the foundation for "The Odyssey" so I can't really complain.

The test, to me, is how well each book's conflict plays out, and whether the author can keep me interested. Here we get a bonus. In this book Phillip and Natalie hook up with Delroy, who can travel to alternate and parallel worlds and can take them with him. They agree to help him find some sort of treasure land if he helps them look for Phillip's dad. With that setup we hop from crazy world to crazy world, with the full range of weird creatures and fantastic world building on display. And those worlds are fantastic and interesting. If you aren't fascinated by the cloud people, (who are very deadpan funny), in the cloud world above Earth, well you just really aren't ever likely to enjoy much in the middle grade fantasy genre. This is top drawer stuff. It's also the kind of energetic and imaginative work that makes readers like me willing to plow through the more pedestrian parts of books like this.

So, bottom line, good characters, lots of creative and imaginative bits and hooks, and a reliable storyline. That all works for me. (Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)