The Wishing World

Lorelei is an 11-year-old white girl whose parents and little brother disappeared mysteriously while the family was on a camping trip in the mountains to view a comet. She is taken in by an aunt and uncle who don't believe that she actually saw a tentacled monster abduct her family. When Lorelei makes one last visit to her former family home, about to be sold, she stumbles into a portal that takes her into the world of Veloran, the titular Wishing World, where she bumps into a strange set of allies who seem to have knowledge of the monster that took her family. Initially, there are some humorous moments that kids will appreciate, and to imagine a comet as an inhabited magical world is an impressive premise. Unfortunately, Fahnestock jumps right into the otherworldly, leaving little room for buildup. The pacing is swift as Lorelei encounters an inundation of odd fantastical beasts, and readers may have trouble keeping up. It's as if Fahnestock wanted to insert every single weird creature he could imagine into one story. For example, there are the dog-sized cockroaches, a knight-carrying pug, and the rainbow assortment of Spanglish-speaking Flimflams that, as Lorelei describes, sound "like a couple of the kids at my school who were from Mexico." The story relies on an abundance of whimsy, which crowds out the moral conflicts that could have given it needed weight. Overstuffed. (Fantasy. 9-12) COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 1, 2016

Gr 4-6-Lorelei's family mysteriously disappeared on a camping trip. She now lives with her aunt and uncle. During a last visit to her house, she accidentally calls up the magical world of Veloran, where creatures tell her that her family members are trapped inside by the evil Ink King and she can save them because she is a Doolivanti, a wish writer. Despite the promising premise, plot holes and questions abound: Why does a psychiatrist want to get into Veloran? Why doesn't Lorelei's brother reveal himself sooner? One of the characters, Ripple, speaks in an Old English-style dialect ("Prithee, to whence have I come?"), which may be challenging for some readers. World-building and supporting backstory are lacking. In addition, many of the fantastical creatures, though highly creative, do little to nothing to move the characters or plot forward. The Flimflams (half-fox, half-giraffelike creatures) speak in Spanglish. At one point, Lorelei comments that they sound like the Mexican kids in her school. At the end, the big moral conflict is presented and solved in short order. VERDICT Readers are likely to be confused and left unsatisfied by this busy tale.-Rachel Reinwald, Lake Villa District Library, IL

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