Hi Bookworms!
My final grad school semester is coming to a close, and this is one of my last reads before I finish, so as you can imagine, I’m super excited!
Today I’m sharing my review of No Place Like Home by Linh S. Nguyen.
The title, blurb, and cover intrigued from the start, so I just had to give this a chance. On to the book review!
Blurb
For fans of Inkheart and The Land of Stories , a sweeping, timeless middle grade fantasy about reclaiming and redefining home
Lan is caught between two countries, and neither one feels quite like home.
A recent immigrant to Canada from Vi?t Nam, Lan is lonely in the basement apartment she shares with her dad. Her mom and little brother are still in Vi?t Nam, and she misses them so much . Her books are the only things that bring her comfort.
No one is more surprised than Lan when a mysterious wind whisks her right into the pages of her latest fantasy read—and more shocking still is the fact that she summoned the winds herself ! Plunged into the magical world of Silva, Lan learns she is a budding witch with the power to help Annabelle and Marlow, the very characters she’d just been reading about, save their home.
As Lan faces off against tree guardians, moving corn mazes, heart-eaters, and thoughtless kings, she finds that Silva is not so different from new homes can be messy, wherever they are. Now, torn between several places at once, Lan confronts an important how do you redefine a lost home?
GoodReads
Amazon
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I am an Amazon affiliate and earn a tiny commission for purchases made through the Amazon links in this post at no cost to you. It’s a great way to help me keep things running on my blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase.
The Review
I really enjoyed this solid MG portal fantasy novel.
Lan and her dad recently moved to Toronto, and as they wait for the rest of their family to arrive, Lan is miserable. Nothing is the same, and she finds trouble fitting in at school. But when she attends a school book fair and finds a mysterious book, she is transported to a magical world and must find her way back home.
The worldbuilding of this book is what resonated most with me. The magical world of Silva had a unique magic system that wasn’t overly complex, and I got plenty of pauses in the pages to fully understand each unique ecosystem and the types of people and creatures that were presented.
Extra kudos for the nod to Vietnamese culture that Lan occasionally refers to.
Lan herself is on the cusp of adolescence and battles with self-confidence and doing the right thing. Her story was simple but very relatable to younger readers. Marlow and Annabelle are her partners throughout her journey, and they each had distinct personalities and complimented each other through the trials they faced.
The pacing and plot of this book was well balanced, mixing magic and action with personal developments along the way. If you are in need of an escape from reality I highly recommend this read!
That’s A Wrap!
Well that’s it for this book review. I hope you enjoyed it!
Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!
Have a great day!
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