The Sea of Always

March 1, 2022
Following The Memory Thief (2021), Rosie must rescue her twin from the Time Witch. Witch hunter Rosie and her best friend, Germ, travel through time as well as geography via the Sea of Always in the belly of a magical whale, racing the clock to defeat the challenge issued by the Time Witch. To rescue Rosie's long-lost brother, Wolf, they must defeat all the witches, and they only have 30 days to do it. But instead of bringing the girls to San Francisco in 1855, where Wolf is being held, their whale delivers them to Aria, another witch hunter recruit. Rosie idolizes cool, sophisticated Aria and tries to emulate her. To save the day, they must collect the witches' hearts, a process that takes them to Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials; Onno, Nigeria, in 1952; 17th-century Reykjav�k, Iceland; and even a time before the first humans. With the time crunch foregrounded via Rosie's rapidly dwindling hourglass necklace (and hints about what will happen if the Time Witch wins), there are high stakes and high pressure on the team members, especially Rosie, to outthink their many opponents. There is a strong theme of self-acceptance that integrates well with the action and makes up for longer passages of exposition. The ending does justice to the weight of the story and primes readers for the next desperate quest. Most characters default to White; Aria has curly black hair and brown skin. An inventive, bewitching adventure. (Fantasy. 8-13)

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May 20, 2022
Grades 5-8 Witch-hunter Rosie took down the Memory Witch in The Memory Thief (2021) and accepted the challenge to save her twin brother, Wolf, who was stolen by the Time Witch as a baby. This second installment in the Thirteen Witches series begins with Rosie and best friend Germ's journey aboard an unusual vessel--a magical, time-traveling whale--to carry out Wolf's rescue. As they traverse the Sea of Always in their time whale, a plan for their mission takes shape. Witches, it turns out, don't keep their hearts inside their bodies; rather, they put these neglected organs in containers that sit all but forgotten. Knowing that they will have to get past the remaining 12 witches to save Wolf, the girls endeavor to steal the witches' hearts and destroy them all in one fell swoop. Though incredibly high stakes, this adventure carries a lot of sweetness and self-reflection. Rosie faces long-held insecurities and finds valuable support in Germ, a ghost, and another witch hunter struggling with her own trauma. A dramatic ending sets the stage for further adventures.

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