When Esther returns to boarding school for another year, she has a couple of very interesting new classmates. There’s an odd teacher who is possibly an ogre, and two of her best friends are missing. Esther hears talk of evil shadow mages and witches lurking in the nearby mountains. Inexplicable things keep happening in the ocean, too. This is all becoming quite confusing, and very stressful, for Esther. It might be up to her to protect the whole school! Or even the whole world!

It’s a rare delight to read a truly imaginative magical adventure that is also genuinely hilarious. This is the third book in Jaclyn Moriarty’s popular Kingdoms and Empires series, but each book can be read independently without any problems at all. At a whopping 600 pages, this is a perfect series for voracious young readers who need something to really get stuck into. There are lots of fun illustrations by Kelly Canby throughout, too. Highly recommended for ages 9+.

Kim Gruschow is the children’s book buyer at Readings St Kilda.