Lei and the Fire Goddess is a middle grade fantasy based in Hawaiian mythology. Hawaiian words are liberally entwined in the text, and the novel explores themes of cultural identity, family, and how difficult it can be for a young person to find their place when they bridge two cultures. All that may portray this book as a heavy read, but it really is an adventure-filled fantasy with plentiful action that will highly appeal to its target audience.
Like its main character, this book gains strength as it progresses. Lei becomes more self-aware, humble, strong, and likeable with each turn of the page. The author does an outstanding job in delivering the intensity and suspense of the face-off between a mortal girl and a goddess when the stakes are high.
This book wraps up the current plot; however, it places the seeds for a sequel–which hopefully will come.
Review of a Digital Advance Reading Copy provided by the Publisher
Content Analysis:
Profanity/Language: 1 scatological word.
Violence/Gore: Several scenes of peril and non-life threatening injuries; large animal grabs a character inflicting injuries, mention of blood, and another character hits the animal trying to fight it off; character recalls all the times in the past where she accidentally caused injury to another character; mythical creature grabs a character and injures character with their claws; mythical creature threatens to eat a character; character tells a fictional story where a insect is killed; injuries from a fall, mention of blood; character attacked by a large animal and character fights back by biting it (kind of gross, brief mention of blood on character’s face); character worries about different ways a friend could be harmed; character is going to be fed to an animal; recollection of past fall, mild injuries; character suffers painful burns on different parts of body ; a goddess indicates she covered someone with lava; scene in which mythical deity attempts to kill a character.
Sex/Nudity: Girl feels slightly uncomfortable when encountering a character in a traditional loincloth; vague, passing reference to a demi-gods affairs with a goddess; someone teases that someone is “more than a friend” (they really are just a friend).
Mature Subject Matter:
Cultural identity, abduction/kidnapping.
Alcohol/Drug Use:
None
