Jane Doe has grown up in the basement of a couple who hate her; with a bedridden dad who’s incapable of communication; in a town that regularly burns effigies of her; and her only friend is the 8-year-old pyromaniac daughter of her reluctant landlords.

With a life like this you can be forgiven for greeting every unwanted challenge flung at you with a smart-alec comment, which is something Jane Doe does to great aplomb. Her exasperated bluntness made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion and Jeremy Lachlan does a good job of acknowledging the frustrating tropes of children’s fantasy without ever making the book or characters seem self-aware, or even changing them.

When Jane snaps at the tight-lipped maybe-bad guy to drop the mystery guy act and just tell her his big secret already I cheered! How often have you read a fantasy book and thought the exact same thing? It’s a completely natural reaction and very refreshing to read. And on top of all this there is a fantastic fast-paced exciting adventure set in a magical labyrinth of a manor with rooms that shift, booby traps and a classic bad guy who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I highly recommend this book for kids 11+.

Dani Solomon is the assistant manager at Readings Kids.