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Reviewed by: The Girl Who Kept the Castle by Ryan Graudin April Spisak Graudin, Ryan The Girl Who Kept the Castle. Quill Tree, 2024 336p Trade ed. ISBN 9780063229419 19. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9780063229433 10. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-7 Faye isn't sure how she, the twelve-year-old daughter of the castle gardener, got roped into telling the Wizard of the West that he is, in fact, quite dead. Nevertheless, she braves the conversation with the Wizard's ghost, who is mortified by the fact that he passed in his sleep, with no apprentice in place or memorable death. There's not much he can do about the latter, but he is determined to stick around until he finds a successor. Soon, hundreds of people descend on this normally quiet castle, ready to see who is chosen, while Faye is kept busy casting quiet spells, helping the castle, keeping a sleepy, retired dragon content, and fixing the seemingly endless problems that pop up around Wizard West, mostly by his own hand. Faye is sharp and clever, annoyed by the fact that the Shadow Queen, a destructive figure from long ago, seems to have scared all the male wizards from ever considering a girl as an apprentice again. She loves the wizard's other staff and even grows a wry fondness End Page 361 for his ghost, and she is ferociously dedicated to the castle itself. Graudin tempers the wizard's exasperating ego with a layer of vulnerability that only emerges after his death. The fact that Faye, sporting cat features as a result of the wizard's pique, is the one to help him find a somewhat kinder version of himself is further credit to her creativity and potential as a leader. This duology opener offers plenty of resolution, while also leaving whole swaths of storylines wide open for the second volume; readers will likely eagerly anticipate seeing what Faye will do next. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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