Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms delivers the sophomore goods

Oh Lia Park, you continue to defy our expectations. Your freshman book, Lia Park and the Missing Jewel, had all of the markings for rote, by-the-numbers mglit, until I actually read it. The stereotypical place where I thought your book should be categorized was replaced with variety, a great heel, and a breathlessly fun pace. Now the second book in the series, Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, opens with Lia’s summer coming to an end and her attendance at the International Magic School about to commence.  Hey, look, another book about teen kids at a magic school, where do I sign up to read this one? Yet again, author Jenna Yoon spins a tale that takes staple elements and situations, and turns it into an mglit read that will satisfy fans of the genre and beyond.

In this case, the genre is mglit, which can span decades of ages who might want to read its books. Specifically, Lia Park operates in the magic/fantasy world of mglit, which is a crowded field with a couple of book series that have the potential to suck up all of the oxygen. My wife has been reading mglit for a couple of decades because she enjoys the pacing and story arcs usually associated with those books. I’ve been reading mglit for as long as she but for different reasons.

Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms sets up the requisite things that fans of the magic/fantasy mglit world want and expect. Lia and Joon, her best friend from the first book are entering this generically named school where the Breakfast Club cast of students are quickly established. There’s the jerk/bully guy who could actually be friendly, a recluse girl who’s very shy, the really smart kids, and those who are wearing the obligatory Star Trek red shirt.

Shortly after school starts the younglings are broken up into teams of four where they compete in a series of challenges. These challenges will allow them to practice their magic, overcome obstacles and see which students measure up the most. Lia’s magic is very strong, but since she’s arrived at school her ability to conjure things and control variables has gone all wonky. She’s unable to do anything and the other students are wary of working with her, despite the fact that she’s a known superstar capable of doing amazing things.

Her confidence is at a low point and the challenges are starting to break her down. So, up until now things in Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms is going in an orderly manner. And while the characters are growing on me more, this is a plot that I’ve seen quite frequently. Just before the halfway point in the book, it stops being predictable and starts being fun and challenging.

The challenges that Lia and her friends are undergoing take a serious turn. They realize that the challenges are about to become life and death instances. As they continue they’re introduced into a world of hidden magic that people have suspected exists, but that students as young as them have never seen.

It was at this point while I was reading Heavenly Heirlooms that I internally called it the ‘Spy School’ injection. Spy School is a go-to mglit series that balances the humor, action and friendship that the teen spies encounter in a manner that few books can replicate. They’re effortless, fun books to read that make upper-elementary through middle school students look forward to reading the next entry into that series. At the tenth chapter, this book achieved that effect. The characters came to life, their seemingly mundane decisions now had real consequences, the humorous banter started to hit home and readers had no idea as to who they should really trust or believe. Is the teacher being honest with them about their quest-or could it be a ploy to make her achieve said mystical power? Are all of Lia’s friends truthfully representing themselves?

There are certainly other questions that readers will have whilst reading Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms, but they’ll vary according to who you see as your spirit animal. This is one of the rare second-books-in-a-series entries that builds upon its predecessor and legitimizes its original intent. Too many books are out to build a series and it’s so much better to have a great book that hopefully spawns books that are as good as or better than its debut. Lie Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms is one of those sophomore books that build on what brought it to the dance. You can jump in with this book an enjoy it, but you’ll want to seek out the first in the series, and then wait for the third one to be released.

Lia Park and the Heavenly Heirlooms is by Jenna Yoon and is available on Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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