A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess - ESSENTIAL

Cluess, Jessica A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1), 404 pages.  RandomHouse, 2016.  $18.  

Language: PG-13 (38 swears, 0 ‘f’); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13 (some blood, lots of battling).

When Henrietta’s powers are revealed in a desperate moment, instead of being executed as she expects, she is welcomed in to the society of sorcerers, hopefully as the fulfillment of a prophecy.  England is in a desperate battle against other dimension evils that are intent on subjugating the entire Earth.  But Henrietta discovers even more – she is not strictly a sorcerer, she is actually a half-breed magician.  If she can’t learn to hide this side of her she will be executed, but if she doesn’t learn to use her powers, the world has no chance.

Yes!  Cluess has managed a great new magical construct of a world that I found to be perfectly delightful – world-building along the class of Mercedes Lackey.  Plenty of danger, the hint of romance, and lots of great battles – of the physical and of the emotional kind. 

MS, HS – ESSENTIAL.  Cindy, Library Teacher