cover image The White Fox

The White Fox

James Bartholomeusz. Medallion/YA-YA, $9.95 trade paper (440p) ISBN 978-1-60542-462-0

British university student Bartholo-meusz capably executes a familiar premise in his strong debut, first in a planned trilogy and the launch title from Medallion’s YA-YA imprint, offering books for teens written by teens. Sixteen-year-old orphan Jack Lawson and his friend Lucy have only just noticed the ominous hooded figures and the incandescent white fox lurking about their humdrum town of Birchford, England, when they are attacked by the evil Cult of Dionysus, believed to be sorcerers seeking “nothing less than the domination of as many worlds as possible.” The pragmatically manipulative Apollonians rescue the teens and transport them through time and space to the planet Rauthr, where elves fight off demons risen from fiery depths, shards of fallen stars provide magical powers, a creeping “Darkness” threatens to consume the universe, and broad strokes of foreshadowing hint that all is not as it appears to be. Adeptly incorporating the tropes of epic fiction, Bartholomeusz assembles his likably prickly cast and prepares them for adventure amid echoes of Tolkien, Lewis, and Rick Riordan. Ages 12–up. (Dec.)