In The Magic Library of Waterfall Way, a daring and wondrously cozy middle-grade fantasy by Julie Abe (Eva Evergreen series), an orphaned girl takes on her first real quest when a village is cut off from its magic.
Eleven-year-old Lyra Hunt needs desperately to find a home. She has been raised in the Alterran Empire, where guilds act as family units. Every guild has a specific focus, and every individual has a "remarkable" status--Extraordinary, Quite, Slightly, and Un--that allows them to cast different levels of magic. Lyra, "the only Unremarkable in an empire full of Remarkables," can cast no magic whatsoever. However, if Lyra isn't accepted into a guild and able to fulfill their required quest before she turns 12, she'll be banished to the Mists, where creatures eat "misbehaving children." The village of Waterfall Way is Lyra's last chance at safety but, due to a mysterious fire in the town's enchanted library, the key to the village's magic has been closed off. Lyra decides to unlock the library's enchantments and restore the town's missing magic as a quest in the hope that she will be accepted by the town's Guild of Scholars.
This first novel in a promising new series brims with wholesome adventure and surprising depth. Abe pivots from the more common heroic formula to invite readers into the perspective of a desperate outcast with a firm resilience and strong sense of self who only becomes a "chosen one" through her own consistent, forceful efforts. The Magic Library of Waterfall Way features accessible world-building, profound emotional shifts, and a protagonist who lets her hope guide her. It's an excellent read for budding fantasy fans. --Kyla Paterno, freelance reviewer