A Breath of Mischief - MarcyKate Connolly - ★★★.¾

AUTHOR: MarcyKate Connolly

GENRE: Middle-Grade Adventure.

RATING: 3.75 Stars.

In a Nutshell: A fun magical adventure story for tweens. Goes exactly as per formula, but little ones will enjoy it. I wish it had had more surprises along the way.

Story Synopsis:

Aria has grown up in a castle amid the clouds with her parent/guardian (the exact relationship is never clarified), Wind. She spends her days up in the skies with her best friend Gwyn, a young gryphling. However, her happy routine is suddenly disrupted when, one morning, she awakens to discover the Wind missing, and their lovely floating castle lying on the ground. When Aria and Gwyn go looking for Wind, they discover that Wind has been held captive, and only if they complete three quests set out by the kidnapper will the Wind be set free. Now it is up to Aria and Gwyn to save the Wind. But can they trust the kidnapper’s word?

The story is written in the first person perspective of Aria.

Bookish Yays:

🐉 Enjoyed the representation of the four natural elements through the characters and the magical talismans.

🐉 Plenty of adorable magical animals for children, including a gryphling and a dragon.

🐉 Fast-paced.

🐉 Lots of adventures, courtesy Aria’ quest.

🐉 The Wind uses the they/them pronouns, and this is done naturally in the flow of the story without hammering the pronouns or representation into our head. Well done!

🐉 That gorgeous cover! Perfect for the book!

Bookish Nays:

👾 The story goes almost like a paint-by-numbers adventure. I wish it had pushed the envelope a bit.

👾 The biggest problem with Aria was that she refused to ask for help when it would have been beneficial and even sensible. Self-dependence can go too far at times. We shouldn't resist help if it works for the better, especially when friends offer it. Aria does learn her lesson, but it comes too late in the plot. And even then, she is still the sole saviour of the day. Teamwork and trusting of friends gets a very secondary role in this book.

👾 The three quests ended up being quite straightforward than dangerous and difficult. For something supposed to be a tricky riddle, each task was surprisingly easy for Aria to figure out.

👾 There's a difference between being brave and being foolhardy, and I wish children's fiction upgrades itself to highlight this distinction. A couple of decades ago, jumping into the action without second thought would have been okay for children's adventures. But times have changed and rash decisions are today more risky than rewarding. So the message coming from such stories also needs to be updated. One cannot stop seeing the wood for the trees.

👾 How exactly is Aria connected to the Wind? Was she their actual daughter? Was she chosen by them as their protégée? Some background detailing would have helped, especially considering how little Aria actually knew about her guardian as against the other ‘-lings’ in the story.

All in all, I would have adored this story had I read it when I was in my tweens. As an adult, I still found it decent but I did expect to be more thrilled considering that this is my go-to genre when I am looking for a quick light read. Of course, the book wasn’t written for people of my age, so my feedback shouldn’t be of main importance. I think kids will enjoy the characters and the adventures. And I hope that through Aria’s mistakes, they learn not to handle treacherous situations with impetuousness.

3 stars from adult me, but at least 4.5 stars from the ‘me’ of three decades ago. Averaging the two ratings.

My thanks to Sourcebooks Kids and NetGalley for the DRC of “A Breath of Mischief”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.