The Callers
by Kiah Thomas
Intermediate    Chronicle    232 pp.   g
4/22    978-1-7972-1078-0    $16.99

The Octavius family is notable for producing Callers—people with the ability to summon objects seemingly out of thin air. Quintus Octavius, however, has never been successful at Calling anything. This does not sit well with his mother, Elipsom’s Chief Councilor, and she makes sure he passes his Calling exam by enlisting his sister to Call for him. Cheating doesn’t help Quin’s already low confidence, but it’s at this point that he accidentally transports himself across their world to Evantra, where he will grow to understand the truth about Callers, Elipsom’s history, and his mother’s complicity in depleting Evantra’s resources for ­Elipsom’s gain. Set in an evocatively realized fantasy world with, in Elipsom’s case, a futuristic feel, this is a moving and complex story about the discomfort and reward of doing what is right. Thomas’s debut middle-grade novel is a clever critique of the ­consumerism that we might take for granted. She tackles serious topics with wit, charm, and a few flying rhinodrites along the way.

From the July/August 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.