Impyrium

Gr 6–8—The author of the "Tapestry" series brings readers a new set of characters and story lines—3,000 years after The Red Winter concludes. This companion series opener follows the lives of Hazel, one of a set of royal triplets in the ruling family of the country of Impyrium, and Hob, an ordinary kid from a backwater town in the kingdom. Neff adroitly mixes magic, adolescence, and mystery, all while meticulously building a believable world whose characters slowly realize that history has many holes worth examining. Readers will find many recognizable elements in the land of Impyrium. Hazel, born with albinism, experiences the wariness and whispers of her peers, despite her mystical talent. The vyes, a race of wolflike scholars, are tolerated for their wisdom and command of magic, but not without the control of the ruling human government and the suspicion that accompanies it. And Hob, a commoner, knows nothing more of life than the toil of poverty and the entrapment of systemic oppression. Above all, the world of Impyrium is premised on a history that may not be completely true, a realization that will rock Hazel's and Hob's worlds. Their adventures deeper and deeper into what really happened in the centuries following Neff's last series will spur readers on to important questions of their own: Why does the world work the way it does? Who are the people in power, and why?