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Never After: The Missing Sword (Dec. 5, 2023) by Melissa
de la Cruz.
<This is
the fourth novel in a series.>
<Alert: Spoilers possible.>
Filomena Jefferson-Cho’s mom, Bettina, is mysteriously
ill, and it’s evil Olga’s fault. Filomena and the rest of the League of Seven
(Jack, Alistair, Gretel, Byron, Beatrice and Rosie) start off to find a very
famous sword. It’s in Camelot, of course, but Camelot is also Oz. Or Oz is also
Camelot? There’s Arthurian legend and witches that weren’t meant to be wicked
but are living up to the rumors Olga started. Avalon exists, just as the
Emerald City does. There are Munchkins and evil flying monkeys, a Lady of the
Lake and Merlin -- oops, Marlon. Sorry, Marlon! Filomena will be tested through
the Brocéliande Forest to test if she deserves to enter Camelot. The group –
not usually the full League of Seven – will follow the yellow brick road as
they seek Excalibur in ruby red high heels (which are surprisingly comfortable),
while carrying Dragon’s Tooth swords and overcoming very large arachnids and
Olga’s ogres. Where there are quests within the main quest, tests to survive
lest all quests fail, lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) will be the least of the
League’s troubles.
Contemporary
life and fairy tales collide in this penultimate tale in The Chronicles
of Never After, a middle-grade fantasy adventure. Readers embark on an
escapade that’s as fun as their favorite theme park ride with the gritty
determination of anyone on a mission to save a loved one. Love is brewing
between Filomena and Jack, so that tween romance does feel cringey, and it didn’t
lend any value to the story. The author’s stories are made absorbing by her
courageous, relatable characters, rapidly-moving plot, great diversity and
creative world-building of fictional realms I’d happily visit (sans evil ogres
and all unsavory types, be they human or not). This is another de la Cruz
middle-grade tale that’s an overall hit.
Book
One: The Thirteenth Fairy
Book
Two: The Stolen Slippers
Book
Three: The Broken Mirror
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