YA Review: Curious Tides
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 544p., ages 13-up, 978166593927)
Complex world-building and original lunar lore help make this debut fantasy, the first in a planned duology, an impressive standout.
"Mousy" blonde-haired Emory Ainsleif, with "storm-colored" eyes, is a second-year student in House New Moon at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics. She is returning to school despite the horrific night last semester when she, best friend Romie, and seven other students went into the mystical sea cave called the "Belly of the Beast" to perform an arcane ritual. Emory--the sole survivor--washed ashore on the banks of the Aldersea with "a spiral burned in silver" on her wrist. Now, one of the eight students thought to have drowned that night four months ago washes back with the tide. As Emory calls on her Healer magic to help the nearly dead student, she accesses rare, new powers and enlists the aid of Romie's brother, Baz, to teach her how to control her magic. Eager to help is entitled, "dapper," chestnut-haired Keiren, a fellow student privy to surprising secrets. Emory, trying to understand the ritual and learn what killed her friend, is determined to find answers within Aldryn's secret, cult-like society.
Magic and an original mythology propel the engrossing dual narratives of Emory and Baz, each differently motivated but equally compelled to investigate Aldryn's dark underbelly. Ambition, power, magic for benevolent-vs.-selfish motives are all on display in this arresting and imaginative escape to a complex fictional world infused with tantalizing lunar magics. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author.
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