Blood Ties (Spirit Animals, Book 3) (3)

Garth Nix is the New York Times best-selling author of the Seventh Tower series, as well as the acclaimed novels SABRIEL, LIRAEL, and ABHORSEN. He lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and children.

New York Times-bestselling author Sean Williams lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He is the author of over sixty published short stories and twenty-two novels, and has written several novels in the Star Wars universe.

Gr 3–7—This third book in the series (after Maggie Stiefvater's Hunted) jumps right into the action. Meilin and her spirit panda, Jhi, are trapped and starving in a bamboo maze while her erstwhile companions Conor (Spirit wolf Briggan), Abeke (Spirit leopard Uraza), and Rollan (Spirit falcon Essix) are sailing into enemy territory. Determined to defeat the Destroyer and his army of Conquerors, the team reunites to survive leeches, spiders, stinging ants, poisoned arrows shot by rhino riders, giant crocodiles, and even the Sunset Death to acquire the talisman of Dinesh the Elephant. Our heroes win the battle, but there's more to come in this war of good against evil in the four titles planned through 2015. Nicola Butler relates the story in a variety of expressive British accents, with each character differentiated by tone. The nonstop action, ever-present danger, and narrow escapes will appeal to fantasy lovers, especially veterans of" The "39 Clues" and "Infinity Ring" series.—Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL