River of Spirits

January 15, 2025
In a world based on Greek mythology, a 12-year-old aspires to be a Ferryer of the dead but gets off track when she meets a Living girl who's found her way into the Underworld. All Senka knows is her existence on an island in the middle of the Acheron River, "smack between the realm of the Living and the realm of the Dead," where she's the ward of Charon, the Ferryer of souls. Her teacher is an enormous raven named Mortimer. After Senka, who presents white, learns the Rules for Ferryers, Charon agrees to her repeated requests and starts training her to become a Ferryer. But when an emergency leads to Senka's being left alone, she disobeys Charon's explicit orders, takes the boat out on her own--and quickly learns that ferrying souls is far more complicated than she realized. She encounters dark-haired, brown-skinned Poppy, whose "edges are crisp"--she's a Living girl who will sacrifice anything to find Joey, her younger brother who died. As Senka tries to convince Poppy to return to the Shore of the Living, the two get stuck in the Underwild, a "lawless place where chaos reigns" that's filled with innumerable dangers and shrouded in secrets. Senka's lively first-person narration relates the unexpected friendship that forms through her shared adventures with Poppy as they face mortality and the unknown. Debut author Targosz offers readers a meaningful exploration of grief and its impact on those left behind. A beautiful, moving mythological adventure.(Fantasy. 9-13)

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Starred review from February 1, 2025
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* Senka isn't sure where she came from, but she does know her future: she'll be Charon's assistant ferryman, conveying departed souls across the river to their afterlife. The unlikely pair shares a contented existence in a cottage on an island in the middle of the waterway, but all of that is upended when a living girl appears on the edge of the river, desperate to find her recently departed brother. Senka is reluctantly drawn into Poppy's plight as an accident sees the two forced deeper into the terrifying depths of the Underworld. As if facing ancient gods and rivers of fire weren't daunting enough, they have just three days to return Poppy to the living world before her soul will be trapped below forever. They'll have to work together to navigate the unknown, find Poppy's brother, and possibly unravel the mystery of Senka's past along the way. The dazzling debut immediately subverts expectations by coupling a dark setting and occasionally creepy characters with a chatty tone and delightful details (Charon loves coffee and silly shirts, for starters). Figures from classical mythology are blended seamlessly into a beautifully built world, and death and grief are allowed to exist alongside deep love and frequent humor. Despite taking place in the Underworld, it's a truly imaginative and inspiring exploration of the darkest and lightest parts of life.

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