Panthers sleep during the day and prowl at night. That’s how it has been, and always will be. In The Lost Rainforest: Mez’s Magic, written by National Book Award finalist Eliot Schrefer, the daywalkers and the nightwalkers live separate lives and never mix. That is, until Mez the panther sneaks from her den at dawn and discovers another nightwalker with an astonishing story to tell.
The magic that keeps the nightwalkers asleep during the day and daywalkers asleep at night was broken only once in recent memory: An eclipse combined the magic of the sun and moon, changing every animal born during that time into shadowwalkers, who can cross the Veil and walk in light and dark. Now, Mez discovers a growing group of shadowwalkers—including an anaconda, a bat, a tree frog and a monkey—who become bound together by a larger purpose. They must stop the Ant Queen before she emerges and destroys Caldera, their rainforest home.
Filled with well-developed and extremely likable characters, Mez’s Magic is a fast-paced and broad-reaching first entry in a new series. Animal lovers and fans of adventure tales will get caught up in the tense and twisting action.
This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.
