Written by Darcie Little Badger
Published by Levine Querido, August 2021
352 pages
Completed December 7, 2023
Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She’s always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories.
Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he’s been cast from home. He’s found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake.
Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli’s best friend, will drive their worlds together in ways they haven’t been in centuries.
And there are some who will kill to keep them apart.
This was an interesting read, though the description of the book is a bit misleading, as the meeting of the characters doesn’t take place until a little more than halfway through the book. They also know about the existence of each other’s worlds; they just don’t know who’s in each world. In any case, the characters are great, and I had a good time reading their separate stories and then their eventual meeting. I did end up feeling as though the resolution was a little rushed, but it did make sense and worked for the story as it was.