Majestica
by Sarah Tolcser (Author)
Jurassic Park meets Skandar and the Unicorn Thief in this page-turning middle grade fantasy adventure set at a nature preserve for magical beasts, where two girls find themselves on a wilderness expedition gone disastrously wrong.
Hattie Swift is a maid-in-training at Majestica, a resort and nature preserve where visitors come face-to-face with rare magical flora and fauna. She's thrilled to be invited along on the park's famous wilderness train excursion for the first time, but there's a catch: She has to accompany Evelyn Ridgewell, the hotel owner's haughty niece, who wants nothing to do with her. Soon after embarking, Evelyn overhears a man who aims to hunt the park's creatures for sport, and Hattie meets Jacob Threadborne, an apprentice magician sent by a foreign government on a top-secret mission. Then the magical fences keeping guests safe stop working, and the train breaks down in the most treacherous part of the jungle.
Faced with poachers, man-eating trees, and a dragon on the loose, Hattie, Evelyn, and Jacob must stick together to figure out what's gone wrong at Majestica . . . that is, if they want to make it out alive. Features a richly illustrated map of the expansive nature preserve, as well as a bestiary with all the magical--and dangerous--creatures at Majestica.
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Publishers Weekly
Thirteen-year-old orphaned Hattie Swift, a maid-in-training, has spent her life at Majestica, a resort home to Ridgewell's Fantastical Creature Park, a magical wildlife preserve where her gamekeeper father worked until his death when she was six. When she's assigned as a replacement maid for the spoiled hotel owner's niece Evelyn Ridgewell, also 13, and must accompany Evelyn on a guided tour of the preserve, neither girl is happy. After disaster strands the tour members in a wilderness full of mystical creatures, ruthless hunters, and other hazards, Hattie and Evelyn form an unlikely alliance to survive on their way back to the hotel. Along their journey, they discover that there are dark secrets surrounding the park's origins and true purpose and resolve to protect the preserve's inhabitants from further danger. As Hattie and Evelyn contend with supernatural creatures--including three-headed "trigers" and dragons--they must also navigate interpersonal challenges stemming from their family legacies and disparate social standings. Via the girls' alternating POVs and evocative descriptions of the park's natural setting, Tolcser (Whisper of the Tide) delivers a pulse-pounding adventure that examines themes of conservation, exploitation, and responsibility. Hattie and Evelyn read as white. Ages 8-12. Agent: Susan Hawk, Upstart Crow Literary. (July)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
JUV001000 - Juvenile Fiction | Action & Adventure
JUV002270 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Dragons, Unicorns & Mythical
Fantasy
Fantasy fiction
Animals, Mythical
Amusement parks
Mythical animals
Novels
