June 15, 2023
There's a reason the popular role-playing game Beasts and Battlements originated in Midnight Lake, Wisconsin. Twelve-year-old Vivian Van Tassel has extraordinary fencing skills, a short temper, a passion for Harry Potter books, and a dead mother--for which she blames herself. Moving to her mother's hometown of Midnight Lake just exacerbates her negative feelings, as she endures bullies and nasty teachers at her new school. Still, despite insisting she doesn't want friends, Vivian does gradually connect with four Beasts and Battlements gamers. Then, while doing a local history project, Vivian discovers unusual connections between B&B and Midnight Lake. Are the game beasts...real? She soon learns that vulturebears, leer spheres, and canimen belong to an "unholy alliance" fighting for Arborem, an ancient druid determined to eradicate humanity. Perhaps only Vivian, thanks to her mother's special Silverthorn family heritage, can stop him. This fantasy adventure shines in Vivian's struggle with grief and guilt and in its creatively crafted gaming elements. Following the prologue, though, active fantasy components disappear for many chapters, slowing the start, and some plot mechanisms feel contrived. As well, in our environmentally aware time, some readers might feel surprised to find a protective nature entity cast as the villain. Vivian and most human characters read White; one gamer is Black, and one has a Latine name. This earnest but uneven fantasy will appeal most to role-playing-game fans. (Fantasy. 9-12)
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June 19, 2023
Dungeons & Dragons expert Witwer draws inspiration from the tabletop RPG to craft an exciting adventure. Twelve-year-old Vivian Van Tassel’s hot temper has gotten her into trouble time and again. It’s even led to her removal from fencing class, one of her only outlets for her emotions. But worst of all, she believes that her feelings—and their resultant emotional blowout—are the reason for her mother’s tragic accidental death. After her journalist father gets a new job and moves the family to her mother’s hometown in Midnight Lake, Wis., Vivian finds herself making friends for the first time while playing Beasts & Battlements with fellow classmates, even as she contends with bullies and struggles to manage her anger and guilt. An assignment about the school’s defunct sanitarium brings with it public recognition that a century earlier, many people considered mentally ill described seeing monsters like those featured in B&B, driving Vivian to dig deeper into a dangerous mystery. Abundant Harry Potter references and Vivian’s distant third-person perspective bog down the straightforward plot, and standard character archetypes make this
a familiar jaunt for fans of fantasy fare. Vivian reads as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jacques de Spoelberch, J. de S. Assoc.