Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts [electronic resource] :

Title:

Author:

Description:

The Otherworld is at war. The Academy for the Unbreakable Arts trains warriors. And Kelcie Murphy—a foster child raised in the human world—is dying to attend. A place at AUA means meeting Scáthach, the legendary trainer of Celtic heroes. It means learning to fight with a sword. It means harnessing her hidden powers and—most important—finding out who her parents are, and why they abandoned her in Boston Harbor eight years ago. When Kelcie tests into the school, she learns that she’s a Saiga, one of the most ancient beings in the Otherworld. Secretive, shunned, and possessed of imposing elemental powers, the Saiga are also kin to the Otherworld’s most infamous traitor. But Kelcie is a survivor, and she’ll do whatever it takes to find her parents and her place in their world. Even if that means making a few enemies.

Publisher:

Recorded Books,

Date:

2022

Digital Format:

CLOUDLIBRARY MP3

Language:

English

Summary

The Otherworld is at war.

The Academy for the Unbreakable Arts trains warriors. And Kelcie Murphy--a foster child raised in the human world--is dying to attend.

A place at AUA means meeting Scáthach, the legendary trainer of Celtic heroes.

It means learning to fight with a sword. It means harnessing her hidden powers and--most important--finding out who her parents are, and why they abandoned her in Boston Harbor eight years ago.

When Kelcie tests into the school, she learns that she's a Saiga, one of the most ancient beings in the Otherworld. Secretive, shunned, and possessed of imposing elemental powers, the Saiga are also kin to the Otherworld's most infamous traitor.

But Kelcie is a survivor, and she'll do whatever it takes to find her parents and her place in their world. Even if that means making a few enemies.

"Be prepared, it will be hard to take a break from Erika Lewis's Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts. The action leaps off the page, rich in ancient Celtic mythology and taut with emotion, with characters who are flawed, human, and awesomely gifted."

--PETER LERANGIS, New York Times bestselling author of the Seven Wonders series

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

Magical fighting abilities are a must when facing the forces of the Lands of Winter. Kelcie Murphy's field trip to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is permanently over when her foster care case worker and a police officer suddenly appear and drag her off to the bowels of the museum. Things go from odd to magically creepy when the pair are revealed to be fairies who attempt a mysterious ritual, which leads Kelcie far away to the Lands of Summer. There, she stumbles across the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, a school that recruits the best of the best to battle fairies and other baddies from the Lands of Winter. Fantasy fans will find a lot of similarities between the academy and another famous magical school, from students' being assigned to color-coded Dens to the mysterious and aloof head. This novel may appeal to some readers, especially those with a love of mythology and folklore, but overall, it feels clichéd. The setting along with the dense text, large cast of characters, and an emphasis on bullying and violence at the school combine to create a banal rendition of Harry Potter as told through the lens of a Celtic-themed Hunger Games. Pale, freckled, redheaded Kelcie is White. The magic of Katniss McPotter, er...Kelcie Murphy falls flat. (glossary) (Fantasy. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Foster child Kelcie wants more than anything to attend the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts, which trains warriors for the war raging on in her homeland, the Otherworld. But being abandoned in the human world as a child means that Kelcie will have to figure out how to get to this school so that she can train with the best of the best, unlock her latent powers, and unravel the mystery of her birth parents. While books about magical schools and their talented inductees are nothing new in the middle-grade space, Lewis (Game of Shadows, 2017) brings a fresh take on these tropes, incorporating Celtic mythology and lore to craft--quite literally--an Otherworldly hero who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals and who also embodies a relatable persona that readers will undoubtedly connect with. Once Kelcie makes it into the academy, she struggles to fit in--at school, as well as with friends and family. When she learns that she is a Saiga, an ancient being whose roots are connected to an infamous traitor, Kelcie, determined and no stranger to hardship, must continue to persevere with the help of her magic, her wit, and the unshakable desire to pursue her dreams.