Ravenfall

June 27, 2022
With her psychometric power to envision deaths seen through other people’s eyes, 13-year-old Annabella Ballinkay, who is Irish, Jewish, and aromantic, feels out of step with the rest of her family. Her relations’ psychic abilities—including empathy and mind-reading—all prove more useful for running the sentient Ravenfall Inn in magic-steeped Wick, Ore., positioned “at a weak spot in the veil to the Otherworld, where spirits dwell.” Leading up to the celebration of Samhain, when the border grows even thinner, 14-year-old Colin Pierce arrives from Montana following his parents’ murder and his older brother’s disappearance. Anna recognizes him from a recent vision, and the two soon find that Colin’s family were Ravenguards, protectors of the Shield separating the realms. As Colin learns about his magic and connection to an ancient Irish being with a sinister agenda, the two must locate the killer. Alternating between Anna and Colin’s voices, Josephson (The Storm Crow) presents memorable characters in an engaging and eerie magical mystery. As emotionally rich characterizations follow olive-skinned Anna seeking to define her place among her sprawling family, and pale Colin navigating grief as the result of losing his, the novel’s quirkier aspects manifest in the house’s ever-changing layout and via Max, a powerful Jabberwocky taking the form of a mischievous black cat. Ages 10–up. Agent: Carrie Pestritto, Laura Dail Literary.

June 15, 2022
Two lonely young people team up to fight an ancient evil. Anna, 13 and the youngest child in a Jewish and Irish family that is psychically endowed, is dismayed about her own gift of psychometry. For Anna, touching someone who has experienced another's death gives her a vision of that death; it's hard for her to understand how that could be useful. Her family runs Ravenfall, an inn in the magical town of Wick, Oregon, "where magic is never far from your fingertips" and the veil between the Otherworld and our own is somewhat permeable. As the family anticipates their annual celebration of Samhain, 14-year-old Colin arrives, seeking refuge after his parents' murders. Colin has known little about his own magical powers but discovers that his Irish ancestor Fin Varra, one of the faerie folk also known as the King of the Dead, plans to use him to reclaim a place among the living. The first-person narrative switches between Anna's and Colin's perspectives. Both kids are home-schooled and isolated, Colin as his family fled mysterious pursuers and Anna as she struggles with being quirky and different. The house Ravenfall is enchanted, taking care of itself and its occupants and sparring with Max, the resident Jabberwocky, a shape-changing guardian posing as a cat. Magical traditions, creatures, and objects abound in this intriguing setting, offering possibilities for sequels. A pitched climactic battle provides the young heroes with a swift if somewhat predictable victory over the dark forces. Largely spellbinding. (Fantasy. 9-14)

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