Summoned

Gr 8 Up—At a rare books store, Sean and Eddy (Edna) come across a newspaper clipping from 1895 advertising for an apprentice sorcerer. The clipping seems authentic, but, oddly, the ad contains an email address. Sean, a devotee of the Lovecraftian Cthulhu mythos, contacts Reverend Redemption Orne (who claims to be the same Orne of witchcraft era, more than 300 years ago) and is given a test: summon a useful but harmless familiar. Inexperienced in magic, Sean botches the ceremony and summons instead a malevolent—and bloodthirsty—servitor which begins to take Sean over completely. This Harry Potter—esque fantasy of magic and apprentice wizards is darker and scarier than others in the genre. Unlike most YA fiction, Sean and Eddy require considerable adult help to solve the problems they've created. As the point of view shifts from adolescent to adult, so does the tone of the narration, making it difficult to discern who, exactly, is telling the story. Some mature language and occult subject matter place this squarely in the older YA category. The conclusion hints that a sequel is likely.—Katherine Koenig, The Ellis School, PA