The Starry Window. (Passage to Mythrin Book 3). Patricia Bow. Kitchener, ON: Patricia Bow (pbk. distributed by Lulu; eBook available from Kobo), 2012. 219 pp., trade pbk. & eBook, $17.99 (pbk.), $6.00 (eBook) ISBN 978-0-9917814-1-6 (pbk.), ISBN 978-0-9917814-0-9 (eBook). Grades 5-9 / Ages 10-14. Review by Libby McKeever. *** /4

excerpt:

She felt as if she'd been searching forever. Climbing, nosing into this cave and that cranny, and then climbing on. Now she was near the top. She squeezed into a narrow canyon that led upward in a staircase of many steps, up and up around the mountain's spire.

One last push, and she was standing on the spire's flat top. A cold wind tore at her hair and flattened her thin clothes against her body. Too cold. This human body was so weak!

Then change it.

And as quick as that, talons sprouted from her fingertips. Shining red-brown scales spread from her hands up her arms. Wings unfolded from behind her shoulder blades and spread wide. She turned her long neck and gazed with satisfaction back along the length of her powerful body and long, barbed tail.

She sprang forward, gripped the edge of the cliff-top, and gazed. Far below spread the gold-glinting land. Far above shone the starry ocean of the sky. Fly! The stars called. Fly!

She crouched like a spring pressing down. Out swept the great wings, and she leaped into the abyss.

Behind her, someone shouted Ammy! No!

Amelia woke. She'd been dreaming. Now she was falling. King Street whirled up at her, a blur of lights between her out-flung human hands.

The Starry Window continues the story in the "Passage to Mythrin" fantasy series that began with The Ruby Kingdom and was continued in The Prism Blade. Last year, Amelia Hammer had reluctantly traveled to the small town of Dunstone to spend the holidays with her grandmother, and she wasn't looking forward to hanging out with her less than cool cousin, Simon, and his sidekick, Ike. Her view changed when she befriended Mara, a dragon who shapeshifted into human form when she came through one of the Gates to Myrthin, the dragon's home. The following summer, Amelia and the boys save a teenage dragon named Ty that helps them win the Weird games and secure the Prism Blade for Mara. At the end of this story, it is apparent that Amelia has accidentally become part dragon.

      In The Starry Window, Amelia, now back in Toronto at school, sees an image of Ty and knows he's in trouble. Arranging to come to Dunstone for the weekend, she discovers that Simon and Ike have noticed two strangers in town and odd things are happening at the mall that is built on the ruined site of the School for Wayward Youth. Amelia feels certain the blue haired stranger is her friend Ty, but he has no memory and can barely speak English. The other is a lilac-eyed, tall man who appears to know more than he admits.

      Amelia needs to travel through Ty's mind back to his infant days to restore his memory and his existence as a dragon. Simon has also been hearing a cry for help, and it is not until they follow this call through one of the gates, now poisoned with the horrifying history of the School for Wayward Youth, through the Starry Window that they can answer the call and free the soul from the Shadow Lands.

      As previously noted, The Starry Window is the third book in the "Passage to Mythrin" series. Bow has written several mystery titles in German, short stories and The Bone Flute a fantasy which was nominated for the 2006 Ontario Library Association's Silver Birch Award in 2006 and the Red Cedar Award in 2007.

Recommended.

Libby McKeever is the Youth Services Librarian at the Whistler Public Library in Whistler, BC.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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Published by The Manitoba Library Association ISSN 1201-9364

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