Tyger Tyger

Making the leap from picture books and middle-grade novels to YA, Hamilton mines Celtic myth and fairy tales for this engaging adventure, first in the Goblin Wars series. Sixteen-year-old Teagan Wylltson's life may not be entirely ordinary, with an eccentric artist mother, techno-savvy little brother, and an after-school job that involves primate research, but at least she understands it. When Finn Mac Cumhaill, a teenage cousin from a family of "Travelers," comes to stay with them, things get seriously weird. Now Teagan is seeing goblins in the shadows, and mythical monsters are stalking her family. Is Finn, who claims to fight the goblins, the cause or a symptom of something worse? To save someone she loves, Teagan and Finn make a perilous journey into a treacherous supernatural realm, where she learns the truth about her family and its relationship to the goblins. While the plot meanders at times, there's no denying the solid concept or attention to detail present in the overall story. Even the most myth-savvy readers will revel in the clever twists and surprises. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)