THE CLOCKWORK GHOST

Following opener The Shadow Cipher (2017), Ruby’s York
trilogy continues.

Ruby returns to her fascinatingly
similar-but-different New York City (the Liberty Statue and the Underway replace
the Statue of Liberty and the subway; machines such as an animate suit of armor
that makes pancakes are not out of the ordinary—but gentrification and the PATH
line remain the same). Picking up shortly after the destruction of their
building by developer Darnell Slant, Jewish twins Tess and Theo Biederman and
their best friend, Trinidadian-Cuban Jaime Cruz, are still on the trail of the
treasure promised by the Morningstarr Cipher. This time around the mystery is
more complex, and some of the madcap fun has been replaced by a sense of deeper
malice; “fixer” Duke Goodson and his “ladies” (all white, as all the villains
here seem to be) are crafty foes who even manage to kidnap Tess’
preternaturally intelligent service animal. Meanwhile the “brown-skinned”
female superhero from Jaime’s sketchbooks seems to have come to life, and the
revelations she drops about the mysterious Morningstarr twins, who transformed
the city after arriving there in 1798, move the series from mostly mystery to
possibly science fiction but maybe fantasy, in the best way possible, all
supported by overt discussion of inclusion, diversity, and social justice.

Woke magical mystery for preteens?
Bring on Volume 3, STAT. (Mystery/fantasy. 10-15)