Robin McKinley (Pegasus) sets her fast-paced, often amusing fantasy in a universe with at least four different worlds and another universe making constant efforts to break through.
Maggie (full name Margaret Alastrina) complains about her mother's new husband, Val ("he was short and hairy as well as having a funny voice, and I've seen orangutans that wore clothes better"), who brought to the family weird shadows and is also a magician--a criminal defect in magic-phobic Newworld. When the dictatorial government sends the army to fight off one of the feared "cobeys," cohesion breaks from another universe, and the already suspenseful narrative accelerates with a whoosh. When Val is arrested, Maggie and her friends (including several wonderful animals) charge off to save him.
A winning combination of fast action, romance, likable characters and inventive language makes this YA novel hard to put down. The satisfying ending leaves hope of additional stories from this universe. --Ellen Loughran, reviewer