Delusion

Gr 9–11—Seventeen-year-old twins Fee and Phil come from a family of illusionists. On the night of their grand debut at the Hall of Delusion, the girls intend to dazzle the audience with an illusion months in the making. However, they find themselves performing in the midst of the London blitz. After the air-raid, everyone is eager to contribute to the war effort. Phil's fiancé joins the service, her brother and parents enlist in a unit tasked with befuddling the Germans, and Phil herself is dead set on joining the Home Guard. But the safe country community that she and her sister are sent to has no Home Guard. Desperate to be of some help, the siblings start their own organization. In search of proper training grounds, they stumble across the College of Drycraeft, a school for magicians. But these magicians are nothing like the ones the girls grew up with; they use real magic. Delusion is well paced and has enough romance, action, and magic to keep readers engaged. Drycraeft is no Hogwarts, but Sullivan's humor makes up for the lackluster castle scenes. An ideal choice for libraries looking to bulk up their fantasy sections with something truly original.—Jennifer Furuyama, Pendleton Public Library, OR