Juv Fantasy Sequel: Stolen Magic, Gail Carson Levine

Stolen Magic
Gail Carson Levine
ISBN: 9780061706370
Sequel to A Tale of Two Castles, reviewed here. (much scrolling required)

Mansioner (actress) and Detective's Assistant Elodie is returning to her rural island home after the whirlwind events in the mainland capital in A Tale of Two Castles.  To her great pleasure, her boss, the gender-unspecified dragon Meenore, and the sweet but frightening ogre Count Jonty Um (and his dog) are coming with her to meet her parents and see where she grew up!

Unfortunately, they've barely landed on the island before they are detoured; first by a blizzard, and second by a crisis brewing at the island's central monastery.  A magical relic must remain in contact with it's resting place to perform the magic necessary to keep the island, formed of seven active volcanoes, from erupting and killing everyone.  Someone has stolen the relic, and now the nearest mountain will blow in just a few days, unless the thief is discovered and the relic returned.

Elodie and Meenore are on the case, and Elodie makes a new friend in the young ward of a rich visitor, sheltering from the blizzard.  The story obviously has to rid itself of both Count Jonty and of Meenore for Elodie's mansioning and detecting to shine, but I admire the natural and character-driven way that Levine accomplishes getting rid of the relevant adults to let the kids run with the case.

Despite being a magical environment, the story is down-to-earth with logic, observation, cleverness, and persistence as the traits celebrated and admired, both by readers and by the characters in the story.  The ending, where Elodie finally accomplishes her goal after much side-tracking, is a bit tacked-on, and there remains a mystery around Elodie's acting mentor; why is he working as a farm laborer, out on a rural, out of the way island community?

The ending sets up a potential for another installment, and if so, I'll be happy to read it also.