Book Review of Otherworldly
The Children’s Book Review
Written by F. T. Lukens
Ages: 16+ | 368 Pages
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books (2024) | ISBN-13: 978-1665-916-25-7
What to Expect: Magic, religious belief, non-binary gender, romance, and family.
In this young-adult supernatural romance, readers will be invited to think deeply about matters of faith, duty, reciprocity, and acceptance.
Ellery hates the supernatural, blaming belief in it for the hurt their family is experiencing as they battle a never-ending winter (for which they are sure there is a perfectly logical, non-magical explanation). Knox is supernatural—a familiar from the Other World who has defied his queen to stay amongst the humans he usually strikes deals with. When fate throws them together, theirs starts off as a relationship of shared interests because Ellery is desperate to end the Winter that is destroying their family, and to stay in the human realm, Knox is running out of time to make a new deal. With Ellery definitely falling for Knox, however, accepting the supernatural might just have become more than a necessity of survival…
Ellery, a nonbinary teen, is burdened with more than their fair share of troubles. The story is as much about their emotional journey towards self-acceptance as it is about the supernatural winter. Knox, a supernatural being, is both a trickster and a sweet-natured character. Readers will enjoy witnessing the depth of the relationship between the two characters grow as the story progresses. The supernatural premise also serves as a backdrop for exploring questions of family and community, particularly in situations where dire economic pressures are a threat.
For readers who love supernatural characters, magic, and a bit of darkness, Otherworldly is a romance with depth and sensitivity.
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About the Author
F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels Spell Bound, So This Is Ever After, and In Deeper Waters (2022 ALA Rainbow Booklist; Junior Library Guild Selection), as well as other science fiction and fantasy works. Their contemporary fantasy novel The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic was a 2017 Cybils Award finalist in YA Speculative Fiction and won the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.
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