The Sword of Straw

January 9, 2006
The charming and sometimes cheeky second installment in Hemingway's Sangreal trilogy (after 2005's The Greenstone Grail
) borrows from a wide range of contemporary and classic fantasy, including Michael Moorcock's multiverse and Arthurian legend, but has delightful touches uniquely its author's own. Nathan Ward, the series' now 13-year-old English hero, can dream himself into other worlds, where he must retrieve a trio of hidden "Grail relics." Older and wiser, Nathan finds his first romance with an atypical princess in dire straits, deals with a not-quite-ordinary bully at school and faces danger in his quest for a sword that slays anyone who draws it from its scabbard. Puberty distances Nathan from his sisterly sidekick, Hazel Bagot, who has problems of her own as she attempts to attract love with witchcraft. This spellbinding adventure will leave readers enthusiastically awaiting the third book, which promises answers to myriad mysteries.

February 15, 2006
Once again, the supernatural invades the life of Nathan Ward, a 14-year-old British schoolboy who lives with his mother and studies on scholarship at prestigious Ffylde Abby and who possesses the power of visiting other worlds in his dreams. His first set of dreams led him to the magical Cup known as the Greenstone Grail (The Greenstone Grail). Now his nightly travels point him to the Sword of Straw, or the sword of stroar, referring to the incredibly hard metal from which it was made. Other forces are awakening, however, who also want the Sword, and Nathan has only his mother, his wise -Uncle - Barty, and his best friend Hazel to stand with him against those powers. Hemingway's second book in her Sangreal trilogy explores the struggle of a young man on the verge of adulthood as he comes to terms with his developing powers as both a catalyst for magic and as a mature adult male. Engagingly written with an appeal to fans of Grail fiction and the Harry Potter series, this fantasy adventure and its predecessor belong in most fantasy and YA collections.

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2006
The sequel to " The Greenstone Grail" (2005) is a separate story, though anyone who has read " Grail" will be jumping into a known setting. Nathan Ward, a boy with mysterious relatives and an ability to enter other worlds in his dreams, is now a teenager at boarding school. Lately, his dreams have taken him to a ruined city, deserted by all save a disabled king and his daughter, Princess Nell. Nathan wants to help her, but he can only reach her in dreams; moreover, he can't control when or how he gets to the city. Hemingway does a superb job of blending British folklore, plot elements, and characters from the preceding book and an excellent portrayal of contemporary teenagers into a real page-turner likely to please a broad readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)