Sacrifices

March 1, 2013
Boarding school students prepare for war, but the enemy may already be among them in this tense teen fantasy, third in the Shadow Grail series. Spirit White and her four equally artistically named friends are drifting apart after their victorious battle against the Wild Hunt, but Spirit suspects that the war is not yet over. Breakthrough--a game-development corporation and doomsday cabal--has infiltrated the staff and taken over the nearby town of Radial. Spirit cannot rely on her friends, as they succumb to Breakthrough's temptations and traps, nor on magic, for she is the only student whose power has not yet manifested. Relegated to the sidelines, only Spirit makes the connections between Breakthrough's unsubtle villainy and muddled Arthurian mythology, and between a 1970s tragedy and the rebirth of evil. Spirit just wants to cuddle with her boyfriend, Burke, pass her classes and attend a disaster-free dance, but she will have to defeat Mordred and his reincarnated followers first. Lackey and Edghill tackle teen issues and fantasy tropes with equal skill but delay the resolution until the next book, leaving readers to slog through 300 pages of ill-explained oppression. Combat classes, propagandistic emails and the disappearance of students create a bleak read more reminiscent of The Hunger Games than Hogwarts. (Fantasy. 12-16)

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April 1, 2013
Grades 7-11 The five renegade students of Oakhurst Academy know their battle with the Shadow Knights, seemingly resolved in Conspiracies (2011), has simply gone underground. Breakthrough Adventure Company, which took over the campus, is actually run by Shadow Knights intent on creating an army of mages. They efficiently remove any dissenting students and teachers. Spirit White guides her friends and the reader through the many plot twists, uncovering the Arthurian mystery at the heart of the story. It won't stand alone, but Lackey and Edghill maintain the fast pace and cinematic feel of previous titles in the Shadow Grail series while setting the stage for yet more showdowns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2014
Under the control of the oppressive company Breakthrough (whose employees are really reincarnated Shadow Knights from Arthurian legend), Oakhurst Academy is more dangerous than ever. Then, to their horror, Spirit and her friends discover what Breakthrough is really up to. Though the mythology element continues to be convoluted, this action-packed volume answers some crucial questions while setting up a promising sequel.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)