Passage to Piora

Starlit Carrara, aged ten, is in search of seven Tools of Power. To recover them, she must travel through space and time -- and must even pass into the hollow earth Agartha, where the Queen of Piora rules. Starlit learns from the Queen that rebels have wrongfully stolen the items and escaped with them to Earth. Yet through her personal experience, Starlit discovers that the thieves have good reasons for their so-called crime and that they may not be the villains they were made out to be. On her journeys to Australia, Italy, India, Poland, Mount Purgatory, future New York, ancient Pangea and present Piora, she learns a great deal about power and deception. She learns that the tools she seeks bestow their wearers with special powers, which can be used to create shared, interpersonal bonds or else to disconnect one individual from another, depending on his or her moral character. She realizes that many uses of power--whether in the service of religious, political or psychological ends--are characterized by moral ambiguity and that good and evil are no concepts to be easily grasped. The Passage to Piora is a middle grade modern fantasy novel for kids but also suitable for adults. It's a book the whole family will enjoy.