Havenfall

In this gripping fantasy by Holland (Evermore), a teen mediates between magical peoples as a peace agreement is torn asunder. Every summer, delegates from the three Last Remaining Adjacent Realms arrive in intersecting tunnels under the Rocky Mountains; beneath the Inn at Havenfall, they renew their agreement to stand united against a fourth, vilified realm, Solaria. When 16-year-old Maddie Morrow, niece to new Innkeeper Marcus, ignores her parents’ wishes and hops a bus to Haven for the summer, she is reunited with “fairy-elf-warrior type” Brekken, a childhood friend on the verge of becoming something more. Marcus, in charge of overseeing the accord, is soon attacked, purportedly by a shapeshifting member of Solaria, and the leader of another delegation kills a Solarian in the tunnels below. Assuming Marcus’s mantle, Maddie must safeguard the delegates from other intruders while investigating a magical smuggling ring and Brekken’s sudden disappearance. Holland populates her idyllic summit with a panoply of magical characters and powers, fantasy elements that overlay tight—if sometimes predictable—plot beats that ramp up the suspense. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Stephen Barbara, InkWell Management. (Mar.) [/em]