MIDDLE GRADE FICTION REVIEW & INTERVIEW : Relic of Thieves (Underwild #2) by Shana Targosz
ABOUT THE BOOK
The best ways Anya knows how to cope with the struggles life throws her way is to keep her head down, stay invisible, and stick close to her best friend, Lizzie. Lizzie has been Anya’s rock since second grade. Together, they pretend the world away. But when Lizzie moves out of state, Anya is left adrift and desperately lonely.
One day, Anya follows a strange girl home from school and is shocked to see her go into the home of the woman who everyone in town swears is a witch. As Anya spies on the pair, she realizes the woman really does have magic—including a set of magical keys that can deliver you anywhere you want to go…keys that could reunite Anya with Lizzie. Anya has seen all she needs to; as soon as she has the chance, she steals the keys.
But magic always has a price. The keys do bring Anya to Lizzie, but then the girls are transported to the dark and chaotic world of the Underwild. Before long, Lizzie is snatched away by a terrible creature! Now wracked with guilt and paralyzed by fear, Anya has no choice but to trust the girl from school, Senka, when she unexpectedly shows up and offers to help. But can Anya find the bravery locked away deep inside herself in time to rescue her friend?
REVIEW
In this second book in The Underwild series, readers meet Anya, a girl from a neglectful and abusive home. With her home life so miserable, Anya's only solace comes from her best friend, Lizzie, and the stories she writes. But she has not yet found the courage to share her stories with Lizzie. And the chance may never come when she discovers Lizzie is moving. After discovering the goddess Hecate living in her neighborhood, Anya swipes her magical keys in order to visit Lizzie. Unfortunately, Anya breaks several laws decreed by Zeus when she takes the keys leading to some horrible consequences, the worst of which is Lizzie being taken into the Underworld as a prisoner. As Anya tries to find a way to rescue her friend, she runs into Senka (see the first Underwild book : River of Spirits for more of Senka's story). Senka inadvertently gets taken with Anya in her desperation to rescue her friend. As the two girls and a mischievous three-headed puppy named Berus (yes, related to Cerberus), seek a way to avoid the beast hunting Anya while rescuing Lizzie. Anya finds out that she is more than worthy of being cared for and she is not to blame for her family's awful behavior. A surprising connection to Hades throws a wrench into things but Anya refuses to give up on the only person she's ever felt cared for her.
Relic of Thieves takes readers on quite the exciting journey. While the book is quite long (over 400 pages), readers who love Harry Potter or Percy Jackson will likely enjoy this series as well. It's a different take on Greek Mythology with some interesting twists. A shopping center for the Underworld? Buying nightmares?! Lots of interesting details keep the book moving, especially with poor Anya going from one near disaster to the next. And yet despite all the trouble, Anya finds allies wherever she goes and it just might be enough to save the day. A thought-provoking look at the harm of abuse/neglect and the importance of found family and friends as well as questions about justice and mercy. A great addition to an unusual series. Highly recommended.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shana Targosz writes about magical girls, budding friendships, ghost who may or may not be friendly, and fiercely held hope. She is an Oregon Literary Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature. Shana is the author of The Underwild series, the first book of which was an instant New York Times bestseller. When not writing or reading through a stack of books, she spends her time playing Zelda with her son, designing solo journaling games, walking her domesticated monster disguised as a Labradoodle, and dreaming up different worlds.
INTERVIEW from release of Underwild : River of Spirits
What is the"story behind the story"?
When I was finally ready to face these wounds, I realized how much I needed stories about finding hope and healing after experiencing such a devastating loss. Most of all, I wanted to tell a story that made children struggling with their own grief feel seen, and offer them reassurance that they are not alone. Writing this book was my way of facing that grief that had lodged itself so deeply within me. As the characters took shape and their own stories rooted in loss began to form, it gave me the means to examine my own grief and acknowledge its presence. With Senka and Poppy beside me, I finally started to heal.
The Underwild: River of Spirits is a tale of loss, but there is an ever-present undercurrent of hope. It features found family and new friendships and the immense relief of finding things you never knew you’d lost. It is about love, healing, and all the pain and joy that comes with living.
What has your writing journey been like?
Fortunately (for me) my writing journey has been somewhat easier than Senka’s journey through the Underwild! While I haven’t had to face actual daimons (trickster spirits of the Underworld featured in the book), I did have to overcome many other challenges. I started writing over ten years ago. My first manuscript was a middle-grade historical fantasy that was a beast to write, but I learned so much about the writing process! It took three years to heavily revise (aka rewrite) that book.
Once that manuscript was on sub to agents, I started writing the next book. The timeline for writing that second book was much faster, as I had learned a lot about my process and what worked (and more importantly, what didn’t work) for me.
With that manuscript, I was extremely fortunate to be chosen for a mentorship program where I was mentored by an agented author and she helped me get it ready to query agents. That book is what caught my agent’s attention. I signed with Andrea Morrison at Writers House in 2019, six years after I started writing.
When that book didn’t sell, I wrote another, then another, then another—some were in different age categories, but most were middle-grade manuscripts. River of Spirits was my sixth book that went out on sub to editors. When my book landed on my editor’s desk, she read and responded so quickly! I’m still pinching myself that Kara Sargent at Aladdin fell in love with my book—she has been the most amazing champion I could have wished for. Working with her has been an absolute dream!
Reading is .....
A means to process big emotions and explore new worlds in a safe, introspective way. What I love about reading is that you can sink into the pages and become immersed in a world vastly different from our own—it is a magical process where we can be transported to different realms and view life through a new perspective.. And when you choose to return, or if you need to take a break to reflect upon what you’ve read, you can simply close the book.
When did you first call yourself a writer?
Another tough question! I struggle with impostor syndrome, so it took me a while to take up the title of writer. It wasn’t until after I’d finished my first middle-grade manuscript and was working on my second that I started calling myself a writer. This was the arbitrary goal I had set for myself—I knew that if I could finish writing an entire book, it meant that I could succeed at this writing thing. I had written several short stories, but I didn’t want to call myself a writer until I had achieved the big, daunting task of writing a story that held together over 60,000 words. It wasn’t until I had completed that first book and was excited to start the next that I felt like I’d personally overcome this challenge I had set for myself and earned the title of writer.
Now I know and recognize that my impostor syndrome had been holding me back. This has been said many times before by others far more eloquent than me: If you write, you are a writer. There are no other barriers you have to overcome to embrace this part of you.
What was your hardest scene to write, and why?
I don’t want to get into spoiler territory here because my answer is about a scene that happens very late in the book! I will just say that for this pivotal scene I drew from my own life experiences. It was a very difficult moment for me to live through and it happened over ten years ago—and it was a memory I had tried to lock away because of the pain it carried.
Revisiting the past was extremely hard and deeply emotional, but oh, it was so important. Not just for my own journey toward healing, but for my main character’s emotional journey, as well. Writing from this place of authenticity and gentleness led to a scene that is one of the more emotionally impactful moments in the book. While that scene was the hardest to write, whenever I read it, I’m reminded that life is filled with love, loss, and hope.
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