A Review of The Midnight Gate by Helen Stringer

Face it, there are a lot of fantasy series out there. So the question becomes, did I like the first book enough to read the second one? In this case, yes, I thought Spellbinder was good enough that I wanted to read Book 2, The Midnight Gate, and continue following the adventures of young Belladonna Johnson. (See my review here.)

Belladonna is relatively happy even if she is being raised by ghosts. Her departed parents are loving and attentive, though they can't leave the house. Her mom still manages to fix her lunches, and signatures for field trips are provided by Belladonna's grandmother, a psychic who lives just across town.

Then Belladonna runs afoul of the school bully. In her ongoing quest to humiliate others, evil Sophie puts a carefully weakened chair at Belladonna's desk and expects her to sit down, then fall down. Instead, Belladonna's ghost friend Elsie warns her and Belladonna puts the chair at Sophie's desk. When Sophie falls down, she decides to ruin Belladonna's life. All she has to do is rat Belladonna out for living "alone" in her house. Belladonna's grandmother has disappeared, and she quickly finds herself being packed off by a social worker to live with a pleasant older couple, the Proctors.

Except—the Proctors are eeeee-vil! Though it takes Belladonna a while to figure this out, let alone to know what to do about it. (You've just gotta love it when Child Protective Services places a child in a building that doesn't actually exist. Nice touch!)

Belladonna's paladin Steve is being fairly cold to her, to boot. Till finally she gets him hooked into the necessities of her new adventure, in which Belladonna's powers are being used for a very fell purpose indeed.

Eventually Belladonna extricates herself from the Proctors long enough for her and Steve to go after a set of ancient coins that should help them stop what's happening. I like the way Elsie, the British schoolgirl ghost, helps them retrieve eight of the nine coins. But the ninth is hidden in the land of the dead, in the keeping of the Queen of the Abyss. To reach her, Belladonna and Steve must pass the seven guardians of seven gates. All of the guardians are threats, while a few are literally out for blood. Though the guardians are mostly mythological creatures, the author manages to portray them in amusing new ways. Here Steve and Belladonna are talking to the harpy Aello, who feels underappreciated and longs for the good old days when she and her sisters used to terrorize the populace:

The bird-woman looked at her feet sadly and scratched small circles in the sand with a claw.

"Why were they scared of you?" asked Steve.

"You're joking, right?"

"Well, I can see that you don't look...that the way you...but that's just a first impression, and—"

"We're harpies," said Aello irritably. "We stole their food, ripped the unsuspecting from their beds, and dragged them here to the Land of the Dead. There were no first impressions, only final ones."

After which Aello points out that she's going to have to eat Belladonna and Steve.

I like the subtle humor, including surprises like a Coupe de Ville ride in the Land of the Dead. I also like how Belladonna doesn't always know what to do next, and Steve has a sometimes surly, sometimes funny personality, which seems exactly right for a boy his age. Ghostly Elsie is a real charmer, so much so that I always want to see more of her.

One of the best things about Stringer's books is the way the main characters respond so naturally to supernatural situations. For instance, it becomes abundantly clear to these kids that as heroes, they're utterly expendable. To backtrack a bit, Belladonna and Steve are also frustrated when, after the first adventure, they're just expected to go back to being ordinary schoolchildren. The only other author I've seen handle this as well as Stringer is Anne Ursu. In contrast, many books just imply that a Chosen One will pass through a great deal of peril, but must be preserved at all costs and so is not-so-secretly untouchable. And Harry Potter is expendable only in the sense that he has been Chosen to die. But Belladonna and Steve figure out that the Powers that Be are quite cavalier about the potential for them to die along the way; if this happens, they'll simply be replaced. It's both funny and chilling, and it feels more realistic than the usual approach, now that I've seen it. (I am also reminded of Anthony Horowitz's young spy, Alex Rider, who is all too aware that he is being used by British Intelligence and that his death might result in a sort of "oh well" shrug from most of the higher-ups.)

At any rate, Belladonna and Steve do manage to survive, and they sort of defeat the bad guys, though not as thoroughly as readers might wish. Still, while there are some creepy situations left hanging at the end of the book, the plot mostly wraps up, with Belladonna getting her home, her parents, and her grandmother back.

If your child is one of those kids who devours fantasy, put Spellbinder and The Midnight Gate on the reading list!

Note: Thanks to the author for providing me with a review copy. Visit her eerie website here.

A Review of Spellbinder by Helen Stringer

Like the rest of her spiritually gifted family, Belladonna Johnson can see ghosts, so when her parents die in a car accident, they don't actually leave—they just keep living in her house. They can cook for her, read the newspaper, do all the parental things except taste the dinner for spices and give her hugs. Her grandmother pretends to be her guardian by stopping by on a regular basis, but really, things haven't changed much at all. Except that 12-year-old Belladonna has trouble telling the difference between ghosts and non-ghosts, so she's deathly afraid of slipping up and talking to ghosts in front of her peers.

So begins this clever new book from a British expat living in Los Angeles. (Spellbinder is clearly set in England.) Only the humor slips away a bit, leaving us with a darker tone, when all of the ghosts in town start to disappear. Right before he goes, Belladonna's dad tells her to call her aunt, but uptight Deirdre refuses to explain anything to Belladonna. Her grandmother also underestimates Belladonna, who naturally takes matters into her own hands.

In this she is assisted by Steve Evans, a kid who is constantly getting in trouble at school thanks to his exceedingly creative exploits, and by Elsie Blaine, the only ghost who has managed to escape the mass disappearance. Well, there is one other ghost still hanging around on the Other Side, as Belladonna and Steve discover when they manage to find the last door and get over there. He is the sinister alchemist Dr. Ashe, who tells Belladonna and Steve to find a missing amulet in order to solve the ghost problem. But he doesn't seem particularly trustworthy, so what does he really want?

Stringer uses some familiar tropes, such as the young person with a powerful mission who doesn't know her own special destiny and appearances from evil spy ravens, hellhounds, oracles, and the Wild Hunt. I was also faintly reminded of Jodi Lynn Anderson's Maybird and the Ever After because of the whole chthonic theme and setting. (I love that word!) But the author manages to infuse Spellbinder with freshness thanks to her strong way with words, her appealing characters, and some clever plot twists. For instance, the location of the missing amulet, let alone how Belladonna and Steve must retrieve it, is original as well as hilarious.

Belladonna is a likable heroine, one of those shy kids who just hopes not to be noticed—even if it is because she can see ghosts. Stringer's school scenes are handled deftly. The kids go on a field trip to Arkbath Hall, and the author perfectly captures what that's like. Here's a sample:

They stopped in front of a massive black gate, and Mr. Watson pressed the doorbell. He turned and looked out over his charges, suddenly nervous.

"Now, I want—for God's sake, Evans, give the boy his glasses back!—I want you all to behave yourselves.

Arkbath Hall was built in the late fifteenth century—"

"Sixteenth," muttered Belladonna.

"Sorry? Yes, very good, Johnson, the late sixteenth century. Quite right. Anyway, it's very old, so I don't want any of you touching anything. Is that clear?"

Silence.

"I said: Is that clear?"

Twenty-eight dreary voices said, "Yes, Sir," in unison, though not one of them sounded even remotely like it had heard what Mr. Watson had said.

He looked at their faces as their attention wandered to the building, the
grass, and the snail on the path. Belladonna suspected that in his quiet hours Mr. Watson despaired for the future of their country.

Stringer's humor gives this often dark book a surprisingly light touch. For example, as the above scene continues, the guide at the castle, who I should point out manages not to be a flat character, tallies up the students using a counter, leading Belladonna to wonder why he needs "a mechanical device to count to twenty-eight."

Later we get the daunting headmistress, Miss Parker, who has a buzzer and little lights outside her office door—

The green one said "Enter," the orange one said "Wait," and the red one said "Busy." According to Steve, if the red one came on when you knocked at the door, then you could go back to class, and sometimes she'd forget all about you.

It's touches like these that really bring the book to life.

Belladonna's accomplice Steve is one of the best characters in the book. I've seen a lot of roguish lads in this kind of story, but he comes across as more of a curious, bright kid than a troublemaker, though his troublemaking talents enable him to be a great help to Belladonna. The interactions between Steve and Belladonna ring so true that this duo seems more real than many other such teams in children's fantasy.

Another colorful character, Elsie the ghost girl, died playing tennis at the school a century ago (the story of her death is very funny). She and Steve instantly clash. Elsie is one of those exasperatingly chirpy girls, yet she turns out to be helpful as Belladonna and Steve move forward with their quest.

Some of Stringer's inventions work better than others. I was a little uncertain about the charnal sprites, but they do play a key role later in the book.

The Wild Hunt brings up a mystery involving Belladonna's aunt, one that will obviously be addressed in the future. We are also left wondering about Steve's mother and even the true identity of the headmistress. Stringer further hints at the existence of a mastermind overseeing the villain featured in this debut book.

Spellbinder is a first novel and every once in a while it shows, but I really like this book, which besides being funny and adventurous is simply a well-told tale. I was pleased that it ended thoroughly, even while hinting at a sequel. For middle grade fantasy enthusiasts, Spellbinder is a real find.