Madrenga

July 27, 2020
Foster (The Unsettling Stars) shows off his worldbuilding chops with this dense, immersive series starter about a shape-shifting boy and his pets. Counselor Natoum recruits the unlikely Madrenga, a homeless child with hidden depths, to deliver a sensitive message from Queen Alyriata of Harup-taw-shet to Queen Zhelerasjju of Daria. Madrenga hesitantly accepts the assignment, taking his pony, Orania, and puppy, Bit, along with him on what will be a perilous journey. Almost immediately, they are beset by bandits seeking to intercept the message. Madrenga is about to surrender when Orania and Bit rise up and kill one of the brigands in a show of supernatural strength. Madrenga is bewildered, but continues on his way, and with every challenge he and his animal companions face—from crossing a snow-covered river and outrunning angry villagers, to surviving the Sea of Shadows and slaying a frost dragon—he discovers new powers within himself and his pets, growing steadily bigger and stronger after each confrontation until his newfound strength becomes more curse than blessing. Rip-roaring action sequences and the mystery of Madrenga’s curious powers propel the story through a series of consistently surprising twists and turns. Foster’s series is off to a promising start.

October 15, 2020
This latest novel from the prolific Foster follows Madrenga, an illiterate orphan entrusted with an important message to be delivered from one queen to another on the far side of the world. Accompanied by his friends Bit the dog and Orania the horse, Madrenga encounters a number of hazards along his journey ranging from mundane floods or angry townsfolk to a moonlit ship full of the drowned dead and a merchant with a collection of reanimated corpses. Each of these dangers causes Madrenga and his animal friends to seemingly transform into stronger, more powerful versions of themselves, with Bit going from puppy to massive hound, Orania from pony to powerful mare, and Madrenga from youth to towering knight. Foster presents Madrenga's various adventures, and his eventual unraveling of the mystery behind himself and his companions, with a suitable level of vigor and action. While not necessarily breaking any new ground for the fantasy genre, Foster's brisk and eventful novel should please any reader looking for a quick and diverting adventure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)