Luckily, she can confide in her Uncle Ivan, who is next door in Gorilla World, and Uncle Bob, the dog who lives nearby with human friend Julia. She’s apprehensive about her Tuskday, a rite of passage for young elephants when she’ll give a speech in front of the rest of the herd. In this follow-up to 2020’s The One and Only Bob, Ruby the elephant is still living at Wildworld Zoological Park and Sanctuary. Limited physical descriptions point to a White default.
The lack of true obstacles (despite grim backstories, everything on-page works out) makes for an unexpectedly light take on young teens overthrowing a despotic government. Everything and everyone’s being a take on a trope, combined with tissue-paper–thin worldbuilding, leads to an almost allegorical feel, as if it’s all a game of Fist played out with people. Cressi, meanwhile, has her own adventures (and is the clear winner in every one). When Cressi is imprisoned, Beau takes off with plucky Nate in search of a real-world ace-the mastermind figure in the chesslike game of Fist-to help him save Cressi and make the world fairer. Beau, Himself’s heir, lives in ignorance in the Manor until a chance meeting with smart, talented Cressi shows him the true cost of his comfort, including the starving children taken by the Manor to pay their parents’ debts. Everyone else scrapes by in the Bottom, which is still reeling from the battles when Himself ruthlessly went after anyone who could make charms, including his own wife. The wealthiest citizens live in Topend the middle class live in Upper and Lower Middlelands, names that also describe their income levels. In the Land, Himself rules with military force. Power, truth, and revolution for the middle-grade set.
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