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Title details for The Lightcasters by Janelle McCurdy - Available

The Lightcasters

#1 in series

by Janelle McCurdy
ebook
2 of 2 copies available
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2 of 2 copies available
Keeper of the Lost Cities meets Pokémon in this riveting first book in a middle grade series about a girl who embarks on a treacherous journey with her mystical animal companions to save her family—and the entire kingdom.
Twelve-year-old Mia McKenna has grown up in the darkness. It's all she's ever known, and she finds comfort in it. Like nearly all the cities in the Kingdom of Lunis, her home of Nubis was plunged into a forever night years ago by the shadowy Reaper King—a figure now only known in nightmares, a cautionary tale warning children to stay safe inside the tall city walls.

But all that changes when a mysterious cult storms Nubis, capturing everyone with the ability to protect it—including her parents, the rest of the umbra tamers, and their mystical, powerful creatures made of shadow and starlight.

Now, Mia and her brother, Lucas, are the city's only hope of survival, and Mia must learn to harness her umbra taming abilities to stand any chance of saving her city and rescuing her parents. If she can't, she'll lose her soul, and her family, to the Darkness forever.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Umbra Tales

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 20, 2022

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781665901291

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781665901291
      • File size: 6951 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 730
    • Text Difficulty: 3

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      August 1, 2022
      A 12-year-old girl must harness her fledgling powers and her bond with two shadowy magical creatures to conquer an evil force bent on destroying her family and community. Mia McKenna lives in Nubis in the kingdom of Lunis, where the elite look out for themselves, leaving ordinary people with limited resources to stave off the Darkness. Mia is training to become an umbra tamer when the soul-devouring Reaper King's elite minions attack her community, taking her parents and nearly everyone else with the skills to fight back. Leaving behind the protection of their city walls, Mia traverses the Nightmare Plains to Stella, the high-tech City of Light, with little brother Lucas and friend TJ. They're joined by 17-year-old rising star umbra tamer Jada as they desperately seek help from Queen Katiya, a ruler with a history of doing little for her people. Relationships drive the narrative: Mia's friendships, closeness with Lucas, and bond with her two umbra (furry, horned beings who resemble fox-deer hybrids) are enjoyable. Unfortunately, key background information is frequently dropped haphazardly into the middle of action scenes, disrupting readers' focus and lessening the tension. This fractured style of worldbuilding breaks up the narrative and makes it difficult to retain readers' attention. Mia reads as Black, and names and physical descriptions signal a broadly diverse world; TJ has two mums. An uneven fantasy story focusing on the power of family and friendship. (map) (Adventure. 8-12)

      COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:730
  • Text Difficulty:3

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