by Shannon Messenger
ages: 10+
First sentence: "Blurry, fractured memories swam through Sophie's mind, but she couldn't piece them together."
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A young
boy girl is raised among humans, never knowing that
he's she's not one of them.
He She manifests some special abilities, but mostly what
he she does is lay low, living with
his her family, knowing somehow that
he's she's different than they are. Then on
his eleventh birthday a school field trip soon after she turns twelve,
he she is found by an emissary of the different world, gaining a glimpse into
his her real future: that of the
wizards elves. As
he's she's introduced to this world by a soon-to-become good friend,
he she learns that his place in the world is a unique one: that of the
Chosen One Keeper. (Possibly; it's not really clear.)
He She is sent off to
Hogwarts Foxfire, the
wizard boarding school elf nobility school, where
he she makes friends, endears
himself herself to some teacher and offends others, shows incredible abilities in certain areas, gains a mentor, and ends up breaking a lot of rules.
He She succeeds in thwarting the evil that
he she faces in the end, but it's only a temporary fix. How can
he she, a mere
boy girl, save this world?
If you haven't figured it out by now, my main problem with this one -- that I started with high hopes: a separate world with elves! Cool! (And, no, that's not a train on the cover. I thought it was) -- was, that by about halfway through, I realized it was Too Much Harry Potter Knockoff, and not enough cool elves doing cool, unique, elvy things. I thought that Messenger had a cool idea for the world, but in the end, just wasn't able to pull it off as well as I'd hoped.
That, and I realized that halfway through, at 488 pages, this was Much Too Long. All of which makes me kind of sad.
(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I've been asked
to make sure y'all know this is my opinion only, and
not that of the panel.)
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