TV Show Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Season 2)

February 2, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Season 2)
Distributed by: Disney+
Writers: Rick Riordan and Jonathan E. Steinberg
Starring: Walker Scobell, Leah Sava Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.)
Rating: 5 stars (10 stars on IMBDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

Demigod Percy Jackson leads a quest across America to prevent a war among the Olympian gods.

I just finished the second season of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians tv show on Disney+, and this is the adaptation that my forever Percy Jackson fan heart has been waiting years for.

It is obvious how much the showrunners and writers put into this book, especially with the easter eggs they dropped for die hard fans. Clarisse’s (Dior Goodjohn) storyline this season was also particularly impactful compared to the books, as you actually got to see some of the scenes that were only hinted at, such as when Ares (Adam Copeland) gives her the ship that they head to the Sea of Monsters on. I connected more to her portrayal of Clarisse emotionally than I did to the Clarisse from the books. Daniel Diemer’s portrayal of Tyson this season was excellent, and I really loved his brotherly relationship with Percy (Walker Scobell). It was a really impactful choice from the production team to never show Tyson with two eyes, as in the words of producer Dan Shotz everyone in the audience is a demigod now.

While I’m sad that some monsters from the book didn’t make the cut (the Hydra in particular would have been a CGI budget black hole), all of the changes they made from the book made sense. I especially appreciated more appearances from Sally Jackson (Virgina Kull).The contents of the last episode are almost entirely different from the book, but I think it worked out well and I’m excited to see how they take the adjusted storyline into future seasons (with season 3 set to premiere before the end of 2026). The show will resonate the most with fans of the book, but I highly recommend it to viewers of all ages who enjoy adventure, friendship, and Greek mythology.

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The New World by Shirley Bigelow Dekelver

January 14, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The New World by Shirley Bigelow Dekelver
Climate of Fire, Book Three
Publisher: BWL Publishing Inc.
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

It is 2047, two years since Vancouver was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. Taylor West, Carlie Fleming, and Mai-Li Wong, and two children, Eddie Coleman, and Debbie Ross, fear retaliation from Willie Arbuckle who they banned from their group for stealing food and threatening Carlie. They leave their winter sanctuary and continue their journey to the Interior and arrive at Blackfoot and are welcomed by the Chinese and the Similkameen Band.

Chief Pete Johnson and Mai-Li, now ruler of the Chinese, tell Carlie she must exonerate Willie, as there’s no room in Blackfoot for resentment and malevolence. Taylor tells Carlie he loves her, but before they can be together, she must confront Willie. Without informing her, he leaves with Pete on an expedition. Unable to forgive Willie, Carlie is banned from Blackfoot. She returns to the cabin and Lance, Pete’s grandson, goes with her. He talks about the culture and traditions of the Similkameen people and confesses he has feelings for her.

Taylor and Pete arrive at the cabin; Lance must return to Blackfoot to undertake leadership of the Band. Carlie refuses to return and is left on her own. She discovers an interest in wildfires and while exploring one day, is captured by Lars, a violent man from Taylor’s past who has a grudge against him. She escapes and is injured when she falls from an embankment. Will help arrive in time, will she find the strength to absolve Willie, and find peace and contentment with the man she loves?

Letting go of the old ways is the only way to survive.

The foreshadowing was handled nicely. While Carlie continued to make some decisions that she really should have thought twice about given everything that had already happened to her, I liked the way Ms. Bigelow Dekelver used those lapses in judgement to push the storyline forward. Everyone makes mistakes, after all, and there is something to be said for seeing what happens when someone had advanced warning that certain choices aren’t the best ones but insists on taking that route anyway.

Just as I mentioned in my review of the second instalment, Treachery, I once again found myself wishing that the romantic subplot had either been given more space to grow or left out of the tale entirely. I was happy to see a little more attention paid to it this time around, but it still didn’t have enough development for this reader’s tastes. This was especially true due to how many other conflicts Carlie was juggling simultaneously. She had such limited free time even before romance came into play. Of course I wanted her to find true love and live happily ever after, but at this point in her life she didn’t seem to have much energy to devote to a longterm relationship.

One of the things I’ve consistently appreciated about this series is how much effort it puts into describing what life would be like if society as we knew it disappeared. That is to say, Carlie and every other survivor had to adapt to a world where there were no stores left to buy essential things like medicine, food, or clothing. The social safety net that still existed in this universe relied upon small groups of people taking care of each other and sharing what little they had which meant that something as ordinary as falling off of a horse could have much more serious consequences than it would in the before times when doctors and hospitals still existed.

This is the third book in the Climate of Fire series that should be read in chronological order for plot and character development reasons.

The New World made me hope that we’ll someday have a fourth instalment!

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The Enchanted Horse (A Tale from the Arabian Nights) by Albert Seligman

January 9, 2026 By 2 Comments


The Enchanted Horse (A Tale from the Arabian Nights) by Albert Seligman
Publisher: Dulacebooks
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

The Enchanted Horse, also known as ‘The Magic Horse’ or ‘The Ebony Horse’, is one of the most loved of all the Arabian Nights tales. It is also an early example of stories about flying machines, which have been contemplated since stories were first recorded.

The Tale begins with a Persian king who has a son and three beautiful daughters. During a New Years’ festival, three sages bearing gifts present them to his majesty. One is a golden peacock which kept the time of day by fluttering his wings. Another was a trumpet which would blast if an enemy approached. The third, and best of all, was an ebony horse, whose rider could ascend into the clouds and ride anywhere on the earth in an instant.

The King greatly desired to own the magic horse, but wanted to verify that not only the sage could command it, so his son, Prince Firouz, took to the saddle and took off. He didn’t know how to control the horse, so he rose into the sky and was not seen afterward. The sage was thrown into the dungeon.

He finally gained control and descended into a strange land, where, naturally, he meets the beautiful Princess of Bengal. Her father was not too keen on a sudden relationship, but the Prince said he would prove his worth by fighting the king’s entire army at once.

The army was unprepared for an aerial assault, and the Prince and Princess escaped together and returned to his own kingdom triumphant. Prince Firouz hides her in the summer palace while he visits his father and prepares for her entrance. But here the story takes a bad turn. The sage is released from jail, but demanded the king’s daughter in marriage in return for the magic horse. He manages to escape, but with the Princess of Bengal as his prisoner instead . The sage forces her to mount on the magic horse and they fly to a far away land.

He immediately begins mistreating her, but is seen by a hunting party of the Sultan of the land where they landed. He imprisons the sage and decides to marry the beautiful Princess of Bengal himself. She doesn’t like the idea, preferring her young Prince Firouz, and feigns madness to delay the wedding.

Meanwhile, Prince Firouz is roaming the land looking for his Princess, and hears rumors of a flying horse and a mad Princess. He disguises himself as a doctor, and offers to cure the Princess. She recognizes him immediately and they devise a plan of escape. He tells the Sultan that he can cure her and destroy the spell she is under by lighting a great fire. In the confusion, he escapes with the Princess and the magic horse and returns to his own land.

And they live happily ever after, and he eventually ascends to the throne.

This Tale is illustrated with the finest artwork of the 19th and 20th century. Illustrators include Edmund Dulac, William H Robinson, Thomas H Robinson, Eric Pape, William Harvey, HJ Ford, Frances Brundage, John Hassall, George Sopor, AB Houghton, AD McCormick, Helen Stratton, Anne & Janet Johnstone, Walter Paget, René Bull, Monroe S Orr, JD Batten and JC Clark.

Adventures can be found anywhere.

This tale was originally told at a time when women had few rights, so some scenes were completely at odds with how I’d expect female characters to be treated in a contemporary times. While some of those moments were hard to read due to those individuals having virtually no say in the course of their own lives even when it came down to something as simple as where to live or whom to marry, I’m glad they were left in because of how important it is not to sugarcoat the past. The historical genre is at its best when it acknowledges such things in my opinion.

The plot twists were imaginative and kept me guessing. I especially appreciated seeing how certain personality flaws of some characters were used to push the storyline forward while also giving those individuals a chance to reconsider their ways. This is exactly what legends and fairy tales are supposed to do, and it was a great deal of fun to see how that trope played out this time as the characters were faced with one surprise after another.

There’s something to be said for an ending that fits the tone of a piece perfectly. I chuckled as I read it and thought it couldn’t have been done better. Not only were all of the most important plot threads tied up neatly, the fates of the main characters matched both their personalities as well as their stations in life. Given how important social rank was in this society, it made total sense for it to also affect that final scene the way that it did. I know I’m being a little vague here, but this truly is one of those times when readers should have a few hints as possible about what is to come so hopefully they can be just as entertained as I was.

The Enchanted Horse – A Tale From the Arabian Nights made me yearn for a sequel.

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The Wild Dogs of Kumamoto by Luc Jorgart

January 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Wild Dogs of Kumamoto by Luc Jorgart
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by: Astilbe

The Wild Dogs of Kumamoto is a gritty, emotionally intense coming-of-age novel that follows Ryuji Nagata, a rebellious teen from the quiet Iki Island, who is uprooted from his home and sent to a boarding school in Kumamoto City. Behind his tough exterior lies a troubled soul; haunted by family trauma, bullying, and a desire for freedom. His father is in prison for vehicular manslaughter, and his mother remains emotionally distant.

At school, Ryuji is quickly targeted by a group of bullies who physically and emotionally torment him. Even attempts to seek help from teachers fail him. His only escape becomes a cabaret bar, Club Avon, where he finds an unlikely guardian in Nana Hirose, the sharp-witted and compassionate bar owner who sees through his pain. But true change doesn’t come until he crosses paths with a member of the Kumamoto Wild Dogs, a feared bosozoku gang.

Change is always possible.

The realistic dialogue made me feel as though I were eavesdropping onto the characters’ conversations. This is something I always appreciate as well-written dialogue can be a great way to get to know the characters on a deeper level. For example, Ryuji wasn’t something who liked talking about his feelings very often, and it showed in his brief responses to many of the questions he was asked. I also thought the conversations with this characters’ mom and grandparents were well worth paying close attention to given how important they were for what happened later on in the storyline.

It would have been helpful to have more plot development in this book. Ryuji grew and changed as a person, but there wasn’t as much time spent exploring the catalysts for his growth as I would have preferred to see. This made it tricky for me to remain invested in his life as I didn’t have a lot of context to help explain why these changes were happening or what the protagonist thought of them.

My favorite portion was the ending due to some intriguing plot twists involving the main character’s future that happened in those last few chapters. While I can’t go into detail into where life would lead him to next, the author’s willingness to take risks here was easy to take note of and is something I think should applauded. There is definitely something to be said for storytellers who remain playful and creative while they’re writing.

The Wild Dogs of Kumamoto was thought provoking.

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Scheherazade (A Tale from the Arabian Nights) by Albert Seligman

January 5, 2026 By 2 Comments


Scheherazade (A Tale from the Arabian Nights) by Albert Seligman
Publisher: Dulacebooks
Genre: Young Adult (14-18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Dulacebooks’ new Arabian Nights series presents these tales decorated with the illustrations from the original editions of the Victorian and Golden Age. Over fifty different illustrators’ versions of these stories are reproduced here, fully restored and many in full color. These are the finest examples of the artists and illustrators of the Arabian Nights, including-

Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, René Bull , Maxfield Parrish, William H Robinson, Thomas H Robinson, Charles Robinson, Thomas Mackenzie, Walter Crane, Louis Rhead, Helen Stratton, Virginia Frances Sterrett, Elizabeth Mackinstry, John Gilbert, HJ Ford, Edward J Detmold, Eric Pape, AE Jackson, Willy Pogany, Milo Winter, Monroe S Orr, Charles Folkard, Walter Paget, William Stang, JD Batten, Frances Brundage, Gustav Dore, FOC Darley, William Harvey, the Brothers Dalziel, and many others.

The first book in the series is how the 1001 nights begin, with Scheherazade and her sister weaving the tales to her new husband Schahriar, the Sultan. The Tales in this edition are:

The Sultan and his Vow

The Fable of the Ass, the Ox, and the Laborer

The Story of the Merchant and the Genie

The History of the First Old Man and the Hind

The History of the Second Old Man and the two Black Dog

Words are one of the most powerful weapons that exist.

One of the many reasons why I’m always excited to read Mr. Seligman’s latest work is that it gives me the opportunity to explore older or ancient cultures and other pieces of the past that are rarely if ever covered in the average history class. I loved reading these legends and stories and poring over the beautiful artworks that were created to illustrate important scenes in them. One can learn so much about a culture by pay attention to the values shared in their literature and how their characters respond to the usual, and in some cases not so usual, challenges in life.

The relationships between the various characters were nuanced and fascinating. As the social conventions of this culture were rarely if ever spelled out clearly, I had to read between the lines to understand why certain characters behaved the way they did or what they hoped to accomplish by telling stories that often ended with cliffhangers until it was time to share the next instalment in that series.

I also adored the story within a story format of this piece. The beginning and end described a character who decided to tell these tales in an attempt to convince his daughter to change their mind about a potentially deadly life decision. Other readers should find out for themselves exactly what that choice was, but I thought it was a clever way to explain why someone would suddenly want to tell so many old legends in a row.

Scheherazade – A Tale From the Arabian Nights was truly magical.

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A Summer Lasts Forever by Tamar Anolic

December 18, 2025 By Leave a Comment


A Summer Lasts Forever by Tamar Anolic
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When sixteen-year-old Ginny Edmunds’ father uproots her family for a summer to take a fellowship at Bennington College, Ginny isn’t happy. She’s never heard of Bennington, and she’s never been to Vermont. She just wishes she could stay at home in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she has her own friends and even a new boyfriend she’s been interested in for years. But at a family-owned store in Bennington, Ginny meets Sam and Ben Morton, the cute teenaged brothers that are being raised to take over the store one day. Immediately, Ginny is intrigued by them and their world. As she also makes other friends, Ginny finds her place in Bennington.

Eighteen-year-old Sam Morton hates working at the store. It’s been in his family for six generations, and as the oldest son, he’s expected to subvert his life to keep the place running. He would rather lose himself in his artwork, but his strict father makes that impossible. When Sam sees Ginny shopping in the store, he notices her immediately.

Can Ginny and Sam overcome their differences and their insecurities to move forward with their lives?

Change is inevitable.

The most interesting conflict involved the struggle between Sam and his father as they tried to figure out what Sam’s future would be. He was old enough to make his own decisions about future college and career plans, and yet his father still demanded that this character follow in the footsteps of the six previous generations and run the family store. This was something I found myself deeply invested in as their arguments about what should happen only grew louder and more insistent on both sides.

I struggled with how the romantic subplot played out. The characters involved in it spent most of this book gradually showing more and more interest in each other only for this storyline to suddenly end without a resolution. While I don’t require a HEA ending by any means, this relationship played out in such an unusual way that I’m not even sure I should classify this as a romance even though I would have been interested in seeing where those characters ended up either as a couple or as two single college students in the future.

The plot twists in this novel were otherwise well developed and fit the character development nicely. I’m not the sort of reader who must be taken off guard by where the plot goes in order to think a twist was good one, but it was still refreshing to eventually flip to those pages and realize that I hadn’t anticipated what was going to happen in those scenes. Obviously, I can’t share any details about what exactly happened, but kudos to Ms. Anolic for keeping me on my toes.

A Summer Lasts Forever was full of surprises.

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The Crucifix by Naomi Cashman

November 11, 2025 By Leave a Comment


The Crucifix by Naomi Cashman
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Paranormal, Contemporary, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

There are always two sides to everyone … Some people are just good at keeping their sinful side hidden.

Something dark and sinister lurks in the musty hallways and abandoned rooms of the Convent of Mercy. The now defunct orphanage, with its history of odd occurrences and murderous deeds, draws tourists with a taste for the macabre. But what if the stories that have been whispered about by the locals are true?

In 1865, orphaned Katherine is sent to live at the convent where fear rules. Nobody will speak of the odd occurrences – an organ playing in the dead of night; fresh graves dug beneath her window; and the Reverend Mother’s bizarre obsession with an ornate crucifix. Worse still, girls who are summoned to her office are never seen again. And when Katherine attracts the attention of the malevolent Sister Nora, her survival seems unlikely.

Katherine’s quest to uncover the truth exposes her to unspeakable evil. Will she resist the darkness that festers in her soul or will she succumb to the unholy power of the crucifix?

Evil wears many faces.

I loved the character development in this novel, especially when it came to how my opinion changed about the various characters as I learned more about them. It’s not easy to write an antagonist whose motives are understandable and whose personality is well-rounded enough for a reader to find something likeable about them, so kudos to Ms. Cashman for making this look so effortless.

The plot twists were equally well written. Where I thought the storyline was going to go in the first scene didn’t necessarily match what happened, and it was fun to be surprised a few times as Katherine learned more about her new home and tried to avoid the horrors lurking there. The foreshadowing nudged me in the right direction without being too obvious about what was coming, although once I looked back at the signs, I found a few that I should have paid closer attention to. It’s amusing when this happens, and I will definitely keep an eye out for future works from this author.

Knowing that the setting was inspired by a real convent only made this an even more immersive and frightening read for me. Horror is scariest when there’s a sliver of truth embedded in it in my opinion, and I eagerly read more about the original Convent of Mercy in Ireland between reading more chapters about the fictional one. This wasn’t necessary in order to understand the plot, but it’s definitely something I recommend to anyone else who also happens to enjoy learning about history.

The Crucifix made me wish for a sequel about the terrifying Convent of Mercy.

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Hotel Spacious by J.S. Frankel

September 2, 2025 By 2 Comments


Hotel Spacious by J.S. Frankel
Publisher: Extasy Books
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

An asteroid in a distant galaxy, a secret recipe, and an animal that has a certain magical quality to it. For Vern Nilsson, working as a bellhop at a hotel on that asteroid is one thing. Risking his life to find that recipe is another story altogether.

Vern Nilsson needs a summer job, and he finds one on Hotel Spacious, a hotel on a manmade asteroid in a distant galaxy. Built by the Borne, a benevolent race, Hotel Spacious offers a place for aliens of all sorts to relax.

Except Vern, who’s on call as a bellhop, dishwasher, and all-around gofer twenty-four-seven. The only saving grace from his job is meeting Dinarra—nicknamed Dee—a tiger-woman who has the same job that he has. Never mind that her parents are against it. Interspecies relationships rock.

Relationships aside, murder rears its ugly head. It seems that the murderer is after a secret recipe and a rare animal. If the animal is prepared correctly, it can confer God-like powers upon the eater.

Vern and Dee begin their own investigation, but by the time they discover the truth, it may be too late.

Not every summer job is as exciting as this one.

There were exactly enough details shared about the setting to keep my interest levels high. I especially appreciated how the author trusted his audience to fill in the smaller details about what it was like to visit, stay, or work at this hotel filled with aliens of all shapes and sizes. It made it easier for me to daydream about this topic during reading breaks because not all of my questions were answered. When done with care, ambiguity is a wonderful invitation for a reader to help create their own unique version of the author’s world and characters.

I enjoyed the fact that so many different genres were included in this book. The plot was romantic in some scenes only to switch to the fantasy, young adult, or mystery genres in others. This kept me on my toes as I was reading as I was never quite sure which direction it would meander into next. It takes courage and skill to play around with writing styles and reader’s expectations like that, and it’s one of the many reasons why Mr. Frankel is on my list of authors whose stories I automatically request every time he submits something new to Long and Short Reviews. A storyteller has to be quite knowledgeable about the genres they write in order to pull this off successfully, after all.

If I had to make a guess about Mr. Frankel’s personal life, I’d say that he has probably worked in the service industry at some point. Vern’s wide variety of experiences with the hotel guests and employees made me smile and nod my head as I read because of how true to life these scenes were. Some guests were perfectly sweet and gentle while others could be rather challenging at times…or worse! The main character never knew how he would be treated from one moment to the next or what hijinks might be happening just out of his view, and this made it tricky to find good stopping points while I was reading. It was engrossing from beginning to end.

Hotel Spacious had something spectacular for many different types of readers in his tale.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Haunting Melody by M. Flagg

August 21, 2025 By 1 Comment


Haunting Melody by M. Flagg
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Paranormal, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Melody Marie sees ghosts. Just her luck that they see her as well.

Not even Melody’s mother knows her secret. Already tagged aggressively anxious won’t help Melody at Pinedale High, either. She’s the overweight walking disaster who desperately wants to fit in. No chance of that.

Hammer and his biker buds tragically died on Pinedale’s campus in the 1970s. He is drawn to Melody’s compassion for him. When her friendship with classmate Justin deepens, Hammer’s menacing antics turn dangerous. Every school day becomes a nightmare, and Melody’s desire to fit in fizzles out.

Now, she encounters nonstop clashes with ghosts, her meddling mom, a nosey school counselor, and even the law because of Justin, a known troublemaker. Can she rise above everything going wrong to help Hammer or Justin…or find a way to help them both?

There’s more than one way to get an education in high school.

Melody’s personality captured the angst and drama of being a teenager nicely. She genuinely felt like a sixteen-year-old to me, from her rapidly shifting mood on certain days to the way she analyzed social situations for every possible morsel of information she could get out of them. It’s not easy to make the transition to adulthood, especially for someone like her who was not only grieving the loss of her father but also dealing with bullying, moving to a new town, and adjusting to a different school. That’s a lot of change and conflict for anyone to deal with!

It would have been helpful to have more development for the romantic subplot, especially given how often Melody was warned not to pursue this possibility. While her interest in him made sense due to her attraction to bad boys and her understandable resistance to well-meaning but unsolicited advice, I would have liked to know more about why she found him so appealing when there were hundreds of other guys to choose from at her new school.

I enjoyed the parallels the plot made between how certain characters were treated in modern times and how some of the ghosts were mistreated fifty years ago before they died. Human nature never really changes, and it doesn’t always lead people to being kind to those who don’t fit into the group in some way. There is definitely something to be said for keeping this in mind when reacting to someone one might not understand for whatever reason and withholding judgement until all of the facts have been revealed, so it was nice to see some examples of both how to do this and how not to do this here.

This is the fourth book in a series that doesn’t need to be read in order, although I sure am curious to go back and check out the earlier instalments now.

Haunting Melody was filled with supernatural secrets.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Peterkin and the First Dog by Simon King-Spooner

August 14, 2025 By Leave a Comment


Peterkin and the First Dog by Simon King-Spooner
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In an ancient world an orphan boy in sheep-farming country tames a wolf.

The two become outcasts, fleeing to a foreign country. Powerful figures determine their fortunes: a holy crone, a demonic bandit, a ruthless baron fleeing a paranoid king.

All travel down a great river till ill-luck blocks their journey.

Then tensions build to a violent climax.

Every journey should begin with a fresh loaf of bread.

This was some of the best world building I’ve read in a long time. Mr. King-Spooner created an intricate and immersive setting that made me feel as though I’d actually travelled to another time and place to learn about Peterkin’s life in a small, superstitious village where bread was the best part of any meal and the adventures he had with his pet wolf when such a staple food wasn’t always an option. It was especially interesting to see how someone who would still be considered to be a child in our version of Earth was treated in a society where adulthood began sooner and where teenagers were generally assumed to be capable of doing just about anything older folks could do. It was one of countless examples of both minor and major things that were radically different between his culture and my own, and it kept me guessing about what I might learn next.

As emotionally invested as I was in Peterkin’s story, I struggled with the slow pacing at times. There were vivid descriptions of where the protagonist travelled to and who he met in various places. While they were extremely important to the plot in the long term, I also found myself wishing for a little more action and conflict to keep my interest levels higher as I waited to discover where the characters might go next.

The themes surrounding death and the rituals and cultural beliefs surrounding it were handled nicely in this book. Obviously, a rural community that only had access to basic herbal remedies could not treat many diseases and injuries as easily as we would. While I don’t want to give away too many hints about how this affected the plot, I’m glad the author spent so much time thinking about how characters who live in such an era would think about things like mortality, grief, and what the gods expected of them. These scenes were well done and fascinating.

Peterkin and the First Dog made me wish for a sequel.

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