The Enchanter Heir

Starred review from August 15, 2013
Chima returns to her best-selling contemporary fantasy series with an entry that is almost entirely setup--but such delicious setup. Ten years ago, something terrible happened at the magical commune of Thorn Hill, a refuge from vicious Weir infighting. Thousands died, leaving only a few hundred young children, horribly damaged and with mutated gifts. Jonah is one of those survivors, born a charismatic and empathetic enchanter but now cursed with a killing touch, which he reluctantly employs to hunt down the undead spawn of the massacre. Meanwhile, Emma scarcely remembers Thorn Hill and knows nothing of her sorcerous heritage, until her grandfather's murder sends her fleeing into the epicenter of Weir intrigue, prejudice, accusations and assassination. There are so many complicated storylines introduced here--characters old and new, factions with shifting allegiances and agendas, plots and counterplots and secrets and lies--that the protagonists don't even meet for over 100 pages, and the volume ends on a grisly cliffhanger. Yet the twisty narrative works, propelled by the deft characterizations of tortured, frustrated, desperate Jonah and fierce, feral, determined Emma and held together by the ubiquitous soundtrack of the blues, both literally and metaphorically. Chima orchestrates a world gravid with smoke and grit and sudden death, throbbing with hopeless longings, messy affections, festering resentments, passionate hungers, inevitable betrayals, and miraculous flashes of beauty and grace. A smoldering story soaked in tears, sweat and blood, constantly threatening to blaze into an inferno. Spellbinding. (Fantasy, 14 & up)

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February 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-The fourth installment to Chima's "Heir Chronicles" centers around two teens, Jonah Kinlock and Emma Greenwood. Ten years earlier, a massacre killed off all adults, leaving just child survivors known as savants, who are mutants endowed with skills that, once brought under control, can be used in ways to contribute to the survival of the community. Many of the them, however, require heavy medication and rarely live to adulthood. Those that die turn into shades, zombielike creatures that retain the memories of their past life and inhabit dead bodies. Jonah is a talented musician, enchanter, and trained assassin. His skin is poisonous and he can kill from a simple touch; his job is to rid the world of shades. Emma is also a talented musician, but unlike Jonah, she is not aware of her special abilities. The teens are star-crossed lovers with overwhelming obstacles blocking their paths. As Emma's world slowly converges with Jonah's, both of their lives spin into a chaotic downward spiral. Scattered with musical references throughout, the book also tackles serious themes of disability and discrimination. The cliff-hanger ending will leave readers restless for more. For those in need of a quick refresher, the author provides a series guide on her website.-Sabrina Carnesi, Crittenden Middle School, Newport News, VA

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2013
Grades 8-11 Someone is killing wizards and framing Nightshade, the secret organization whose job it is to track down undead souls and dispatch them. Jonah, a 17-year-old assassin for Nightshade, is also on the trail of wizard killers, but for a different reason: he wants to know who was behind the Thorn Hill disaster, where thousands of adult sorcerers and nearly as many children died. Meanwhile, teen musical genius Emma, in search of her sorcerer father, lands directly in Jonah's path. He is smitten, but can he save her from those who think she knows the secret to Thorn Hill? There is plenty of background information in the interstices of this multifaceted narrative, but readers new to the Heir Chronicles series may occasionally have difficulty connecting all the dots. Intriguing plot and subplot teasers abound, and the book ends in a cliff-hanger that will have readers roaring for the next entry. Chima continues to excel at building tension and populating her well-told tales with new and returning characters we want to know better. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: It's a big series with a big following. Author tour, book trailer, and more promise to keep the swords a-swinging.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Chima adds two new players to her magical underworld, both with a connection to a mysterious massacre that upset the balance of power among the magical guilds and to a new threat: ghost-like "shades." Tangled conflict lines, secret identities, besieged protagonists, and nonstop action make this a thrilling and thought-provoking Heir Chronicles volume, despite dropped plot threads and a truncated resolution.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)