"Isn't it a bit young to be a knight?" a fairy party-goer asks of the fay king. "Nonsense!" the king replies, all bravado. "It's a human childe, they're made of stern stuff, and ours is a particularly good one."
The fay king and queen took Childe from his human family when he was only a baby, leaving their own child in his place. Never even given a proper name, Childe is sick of his royal "parents" treating him like a pet, cooing over his every "precious" sneeze and exclaiming about how "squishy" he is. Also, with only the court staff and a boy-sized candle gollum as company, Childe is lonely and feels out of place. Edmund, the fay baby who was swapped for Childe, feels equally alone--he knows he's a changeling but tries to hide his magic (not always successfully) for fear of upsetting his adopted human family. When the fay king and queen are turned into rats by a usurper named Hawthorne, Childe is forced to flee. He escapes to the home of the only person he believes can save both him and the fay kingdom: Edmund, "the rightful" (and only) "blood heir to the World Below."
In debut author Aldridge's graphic novel fantasy, Childe and his gollum, Whick, travel with Edmund and his human sister, Alexis, to the Below to take back the kingdom from the evil Hawthorne. Aldridge makes striking use of his medium, varying panel size and full-page spreads to match and heighten the action and suspense. Estranged's swiftly moving text and detailed, energetic illustrations contain any and every fantasy motif or creature a reader could want. --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness