Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu

We first met Kelcie Murphy in the middle grade fantasy Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for Unbreakable Arts (2022) when she (much to her astonishment) qualifies for a magical school in the Summerlands, a place where Irish mythology is real.  She discovers she has magical gifts, is descended from a minor goddess, finds her father is still alive (but imprisoned for being a traitor) and helps save the Summerlands from a terrible danger, and makes friends (and more).  

She returns to school in Kelcie Murphy and the Hunt for the Heart of Danu (July 25, 2023, Starscape)  Summer is still at war with winter, Kelcie's father is still imprisoned, and the Summerland faces its most dire threat in millennia.  And a saboteur from the Winterlands, Lexis, is one of her classmates.  Lexis is on a mission to steal the Heart of Danu, the source of all light and warmth, and if she succeeds, Winter will win once and for all, for everyone in Summer will die.

And Kelcie's mother, the omen of doom, seems to think Kelcie can save the day.  Which she does, with the help of her close group of friends.  But it's a tough challenge.  Kelcie is treated with lots of suspicion, not just because of her father, but because on that side of the family she is Formorian --the predecessors of the summer folk.  The Formorians are kept partitioned in a particularly nasty bit of the Summerlands, and only now are Formorian students being welcomed to the Academy.  And Lexis is always a step ahead of her...

There are mythological monstrous challenges galore, which will please readers who love vivid action and adventure.  (Kelcie also has a magical animal companion, a cù sìth named Striker, who will delight many young readers).  I myself preferred the first book, which has much more of the magical school experience in it, including more time focused on friendship and belonging, but that's just me; the parts of this one I most enjoyed were the those that focused on Kelcie and her particular coterie, though I was a bit frustrated that one particular bit of tension never got explained to my satisfaction (the way Niall distances himself from Kelcie...).  

 This second book, though, takes on bigger, real-world challenges, which I appreciated.  How can two lands, at war for ages, who have hurt each other badly, find peace?  There's a satisfying resolution to this particular story at the end of the book, but there's lots left for book #3!

disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.