A Legend of Starfire

by Marissa Burt

Overview

The rhymes of Mother Goose meet A Wrinkle in Time in this sequel to A Sliver of Stardust, from Marissa Burt, the author of Storybound.

The Land of Nod used to be just a name in a nursery rhyme to Wren. But when she discovered the secret magic of stardust, she learned that some of those rhymes had secrets of their own—and the Land of Nod is real.

A few months ago, the evil Magician Boggen attempted to escape his exile on Nod and return to Earth. Wren stopped him, but Boggen is still out there. To save her world, Wren will travel farther than even she could have dreamed: to the heart of Nod itself, where she must defeat Boggen once and for all.

A fantastic adventure with a captivating world, inventive magic, and a dash of science, A Legend of Starfire is the perfect next read for fans of Madeleine L’Engle, John Stephens’s The Emerald Atlas, or Stefan Bachmann’s The Peculiar.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062291608
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/18/2016
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	416
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Marissa Burt was forever getting notes sent home from teachers about reading novels during class. She grew up in Oregon and now lives in the Seattle area with her husband and three sons. Marissa is also the author of Storybound and Story's End.

Editorial Reviews

[A] mix of traditional fairy tale and fantasy makes it a natural precursor to books like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.” — ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR A SLIVER OF STARDUST: “Burt employs highly descriptive world building and plenty of action.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

PRAISE FOR STORY’S END: “Hits the ground running. There are a lot of compelling plotlines, and the book ends with an all-out bang.” — ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR STORYBOUND: “An appealing fantasy. Strong writing and interesting characters make Una’s journey enjoyable, and the overall result will have readers on the lookout for the planned sequel.” — Publishers Weekly

“A richly imagined world. Readers will enjoy the mind-bending fun of puzzling together small details.” — ALA Booklist

“Readers who love fantasy may see an opportunity to snuggle up with a cup of cocoa and unravel the plot, which twists and turns in on itself, with happy surprises.” — Kirkus Reviews

“With its unique twist (her roommate, for example, is a snooty Snow White), Una’s adventures should charm those who enjoy fairy-tale reboots, and the cliff-hanger ending could ensure demand for a sequel.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

PRAISE FOR A SLIVER OF STARDUST: “Burt employs highly descriptive world building and plenty of action.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

[A] mix of traditional fairy tale and fantasy makes it a natural precursor to books like Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.

ALA Booklist

PRAISE FOR A SLIVER OF STARDUST: “Burt employs highly descriptive world building and plenty of action.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

2016-07-20
Wren Matthews thought she had destroyed the evil Boggen, but he’s back—and now, on Nod, he’s experimenting with tainted stardust…on human subjects.At the opening of this sequel to A Sliver of Stardust (2015), Wren is having trouble working her stardust. The first few pages quickly recap the fact that she is a Fiddler—one of the few people on Earth who can work magic—and, even more special, a Weather Changer. Soon the pedantic Simon, rival-turned-friend, enters the picture; he will exhibit his prime trait of nerdiness throughout the book, while the character Jack—friend-then-traitor-then-friend-again—continues to smirk and play lame pranks. Wren and friends embark on a cinematic journey that includes spaceships, steampunk-y objects and places, street urchins, catacombs, and scientific laboratories. Civil wars, plagues, Alchemists, and Magicians are thrown into the mix, along with the Outsiders, who want all magic destroyed. And who is orchestrating Wren’s frightening, lucid dreams? A page-turner for those who enjoy lots of action upon a crazy-quilt landscape; a frustration for those who enjoy details, character development, and a logical plot. Stock phrases abound, as in “Take heed,” and “Beware.” Wren feels stirred by a beautiful-eyed boy whose name, Vulcan, causes her to reference Star Trek. Eventually, Simon manages to teach everyone a surprising—make that unbelievable—lesson about tolerance and “animachines,” and Wren has another go at destroying Boggen. The cast is not notably diverse, with little indication that characters are anything other than white. Arduous. (Fantasy. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews