Two siblings from Arkansas fight to survive in a magical world.

This debut novel follows in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis, creating a Christian allegory in a fantasy world. Twelve-year-old twins Chayse and Reed Leftwich are home alone while their adoring but overstretched mother is busy at work; their loving yet irresponsible father has moved out. Then a social worker shows up and takes them into custody. After a quick hearing, the twins are handed over to foster parents, but things get complicated when the couple take them from the Ozarks into another world, ruled by the Elfwitch. The Elfwitch demand that the twins hand over silver necklaces they were given by their mother. Reed refuses and is sent to prison while Chayse agrees and starts to follow the Elfwitch. Chayse learns about potions and the Elfwitch’s ambitions while Reed builds alliances with his fellow prisoners, breaks out of jail, and finds out about the new land’s problems. The people have turned their backs on the Judge who set down the Law and sent his Son as his representative, and the Elfwitch conspire to unseat the rightful queen. Chayse and Reed struggle to understand why everyone in this new world resembles people they know in Arkansas—including their parents—and eventually realize that defeating the Elfwitch and restoring the Judge’s rule are crucial steps in their quest to get back to their own realm. While the fantasy world’s Christian symbolism is not subtle (“So the Judge sent his Son. He said, ‘Surely, they will listen to my Son and return to the Law.’ But the people loved the Darkness more and called that the Light”), it is well integrated into the plot and the worldbuilding. Dramatic battle scenes, mysterious enchantments, monstrous creatures, and unfamiliar environments situate the story firmly in the fantasy genre, and the religious themes mesh with the plot. The writing is not entirely polished, but Cummins tells a solid and engaging story.