A Box of Gargoyles

Starred review from April 1, 2013
Receiving birthday well-wishes is a delight, unless one of those greetings is on creepy green stationery that obligates you to reanimate a supposed-to-be-dead wicked relative. Demonstrating that Paris isn't always baguettes and bicycles, Maya's 13th-birthday happiness is challenged from every angle. Her mother falls ill, her best (and only) friend, Valko, is being sent to Bulgaria, and an off-putting ripple of something peculiar is gradually transforming Paris for the worse. Maya soon realizes that Henri de Fourcroy, the cousin she banished but didn't exactly kill, is behind the dark wave of strangeness changing the city. With the use of some sinister stationery, Henri binds Maya to helping him rematerialize at the eventual cost of her own life. Thus the struggle to save herself and the world from the growing circle of mischievous magic commences as gargoyles, a madwoman and a purple-eyed shadow stalk her. A twist of the magic makes its transformative effects visible only to Maya and Valko, cementing this as a battle they must strategically fight without adult help. Stone monsters and spells aside, this is at its core a tale of summoning intellect, guts and logic to save the day. This sequel to The Cabinet of Earths (2012) has, like Maya, only become more refined, its vividly sensory third-person narration artful and immediate. And though reading the previous book is helpful, it can substantially stand on its own. A flavorful mille-feuille with equally tasty layers of dark magic, light comedy and salty determination. (Suspense. 12-15)

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July 1, 2013

Gr 4-8-This sequel to The Cabinet of Earths (HarperCollins, 2012) begins shortly after Maya Davidson's victory against her wicked, "sort of" uncle, the powerful magician Henri de Fourcroy. Just as the 12-year-old is beginning to relax and enjoy her new life in Paris, strange things start happening around her. A mysterious swirl of dust that seems to have the shape and colors of a purple-eyed man is following her, and growing regions of magical transformation bring danger and threatening magical creatures to the city. When Maya inadvertently reads a letter that holds a magical compulsion, it seems that she will be forced to give up her own life in exchange for Henri's. With the help of her friends Valko and Pauline, Maya is determined to outwit the constraints of the letter and defeat Henri again. Magical gargoyles and their egg add to the mystery as Maya tries to understand what they need her to do and how they can help her with her mission. Nesbet creates threatening evil and an engagingly magical setting. She gives Maya real doubts and worries, particularly about protecting her family and her mother's recurring illness. Fans of the first book will enjoy this next installation, but it functions smoothly on its own as well.-Beth L. Meister, Milwaukee Jewish Day School, WI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2013
Grades 4-7 Since making peace with the Cabinet of Earths, Maya has settled into a happy and relatively normal adolescent existence as an expat in Paris. But the deep magic of the City of Light is not through with her yet, as an animate stone wall and a mysterious shadowy figure seek the sustenance of her spirit. Nesbet continues to cast a particular spell over her proceedings, threading the twisting narrative with inventive fantasy. After a compulsory exposition, the reader is immersed in a dense, shimmering realm sure to please fans of The Cabinet of Earths (2012) and likely to win new ones.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2013
By the end of Nesbet's The Cabinet of Earths (rev. 1/12), Maya has vanquished her immortality-hungry relative Henri de Fourcroy to his proper state -- ashes and dust. But in the time-honored tradition of sequels, Maya's nemesis doesn't quite sputter out: he reappears as a "bent-over smoke streak of a man" who hides his mind in the stones of a Paris wall, casting a spell that will force Maya to restore his vitality. Maya and her friend Valko struggle to outwit the spell (since they can't resist it), contending with gargoyles, a gargoyle egg, and a very bad violinist, as well as convulsive waves of magic that promise to change not just Paris but all the world. The logic of Nesbet's plot is rather ornate, but there's plenty of strength and charm here -- especially in the animated, personal voice of the narrator, who seems to speak out of Maya's own head but, at the same time, offers its own sympathetic interpretation of events. And Nesbet's style is both animated and animating: through pervasive personification -- "the smell of rocks beginning to lose their temper"; drizzle moving on "to bother somebody else's day"; memories that are "pretty shy creatures" -- all elements of her story fairly quiver with life. deirdre f. baker

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2013
In this sequel to The Cabinet of Earths, Maya and her friend Valko struggle to outwit Henri de Fourcroy's spell, contending with convulsive waves of magic that promise to change not just Paris but all the world. The logic of Nesbet's plot is rather ornate, but there's plenty of strength and charm here--especially in the animated, personal voice of the narrator.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)