It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with a review of The Impossible Girl by Ashley White

The Impossible Girl by Ashley White
Publisher:  Monarch Educational Services
Format:  Ebook
Number of pages:  324 pages
Published:   August 9th, 2022
Source:  Publisher

Opening Line:  "Anabelle shoved the bassinet into Jullian's oversized but awkward hands."  

13-year-old Ava Marie Jones can't endure another moment on the pageant stage, despite her stepmom Ulga's insistence.  Mustering her courage, she's finally decided to say, "no more!"  Jumping off the stage, Ava makes a run for her favorite spot, the Cathedral tree, a three-hundred-year-old Sitka Spruce.  It's a refuge of warmth and shelter, a place to escape.  They're kindred spirits after all, both being orphaned.  But this time when Ava enters her beloved tree, the ground gives out sending her spiraling downward, and ultimately being caught in the waiting arms of a boy, Duncan, from this mysterious and massive underground city.  It seems Ava is now in the city of Xarcadia, a place filled with all of these curious shops, tall stone buildings and city walls made from the roots of her Cathedral tree.  The people are even different than anything she's ever seen before, some glow, are blue, or have bow shaped eyebrows.  

Once Ava recovers from the initial shock of her fall, Duncan begins to explain where she's crashed landed.  At one time the people of Xarcadia lived above ground, amongst the mortals, but following a strife their leader, Ambrose brought them underground and formed the city for the Magites.  Some Magites sent their children to experience the mortal world, but on their thirteenth birthday, the children return to Xarcadia, and are referred to as "The Lost One's."  There is a huge celebration that they've been found and now returned to their true home.  There is even a ball where their parents reveal themselves.    

Ava has always felt different, out of place somehow, but this is more than she expected.  Xarcadia is home to hundreds of different magical species, fairy, merfolk, vampire's, even witches.  Each one having been registered or tagged at birth.  However, when a scan is attempted on Ava's wrist, she doesn't show up in the registry.  She's an anomaly, something that has never existed in their city before and is seen as a threat to the Magites.  Not only can they not determine who she is, there is no way to know if her parents know of her return.  The city is left with no way to determine who she belongs to and what species she is.

To keep an eye on Ava until a solution can be found, Ambrose decrees she should enroll in Linhollow Academy for the Supernaturally Gifted.  He also assigns two rather large guards to track her every move.  Ava hopes that while at this Academy she can learn more about her unexplained existence, what she is and just who her parents are.  Along the way she makes some new friends who help her navigate the Academy and help her uncover her craft, Duncan (a vampire), Tara (a witch who writes for the Arat Asoraled, a secretive newspaper) and Colin Arion (a fairy and fellow Lost One).  But trouble seems to be following Ava when some of the students are attacked and one is killed that appears to be linked to a Resistance group within the city that has ties back to Ava.  Can the students uncover the truth?    

I quite enjoyed reading The Impossible Girl.  It has the feeling of reading something gloriously familiar.  A little Alice in Wonderland, when Ava falls down through the hole ending up in a new place.  Some Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger and Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend vibes, being a place filled with magical creatures, wonderous shops and a girl with hidden talents, above what would be typical.  And maybe even a little Harry Potter for the exciting school.  There are some familiar tropes, a girl who never knew her parents, has special magical abilities, and comes to the school for magical training.  There's a clash between Magites and the Resistance.  And even a prison that feels like Azkaban.  Yet there is also a uniqueness in the story.  The Academy is underwater, Ava is one of hundreds of different species and even the Assembly Games that they play are very different.  I found myself rapidly turning pages to find out who or what was behind the killings.  It's an exciting world to explore.  Very atmospheric, detailed and wonderous.  Ava makes for a lovely main character; she's flawed and longing for a place to be accepted.  She goes on this journey to discover who she is and we're following right along.  The friendships that develop are fun, and they experience many an adventure, it's the kind of book that I want to revisit, just to read it all again.  And I'm hopeful that there will be more books in the future.  

  **A huge thank you to Monarch Educational Services for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.**       

I hope you'll check out all the other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge's blog HERE