Once There Was is mglit as good as it gets

World building is a concept that too many books start out in mind without fully looking down the path to see where the story is going. They create a half-baked world and then ask readers to remain hooked on a story that seems to exist only for a literary series or movie franchise. Once There Was builds a world. It’s a complete and detailed world that’s adorned with creatures who are capable of incredible beauty and violence. In my mind’s eye, I see Once There Was innocently taunting other books, in its best Crocodile Dundee attire, in bookstores or libraries across the land saying, “That’s not a book, that’s a book.”

If it were common knowledge to know what a griffon smells like, then this book would have that aroma. Assuming that people know how the tuft of fur under a manticore’s chin falls back into place after being massaged in an effort to calm them down, this book would have dander where its pages just were.

Once There Was crackles with life but begins with death. Marjan’s father has recently been killed. He ran a successful veterinarian practice and she’s struggling to keep it afloat. To complicate her life even more she’s still in high school, needs to grieve her loss, is naturally impatient, and just wants things to relax for a period of time. Unbeknownst to her, her recently departed father was a medical doctor for mythical beasts. Whenever a creature who is previously thought to have only lived in fairy tales needed medical attention he was the one person in the world who could help, and now that person is her.

It’s not long before Marjan’s presence is requested at an estate in England. The summons says that it’s an experience that will change her destiny, but that she has to leave immediately and tell no one. While she’s hesitant about traveling to an unknown place on short notice, she accepts the challenge and is surprised to be greeted by a cute boy upon her arrival.

He’s the son of the owner and the two have some natural chemistry between the two of them, but she’s got a job to do. There’s a manticore who lives at the compound and they’ve noticed that he’s become lethargic. Marjan goes from disbelief to acceptance very quickly once she lays her hands on the animal. She’s able to sense what’s bothering him, putting forth an empathetic course of care for this animal that most people don’t believe in, but she’s just bonded with.

Yeah, you might have heard a tale or two about magical beasts, but Once There Was casts its own shadow and is not what you’re thinking. In the place of plot devices that you’re expecting is an underworld where these animals from fairy tales are captured, sold for personal collections or have managed to stay hidden for millennia. Marjan is entering a world where the major player in this field seems to be nice, but whose best interests does he have in mind? As she goes deeper into this area her powers get more perceptive, and a mysterious new force makes her question everything.

Once There Was is a joy of a book to read. It creates a world where the background is incredibly strong and the characters that are put upon it are as beautifully crafted. The result is an example of mglit where it’s greater than the sum of all of its parts. It has the ability to suck all of the oxygen out of your library whilst you’re reading Once There Was. It commands your attention in the best of all literary ways, by simply being the best unread book in the room at that time.

The text in Once There Was is on par for fifth graders and (way) up. Most of the middle school students that I teach would be fine reading this and actively enjoy it, but they don’t read. They embrace not reading as a badge of honor for some reason. It’s in the same vein as those students who brag about scoring the lowest on a test, I’m sure that the two instances have nothing in common though.

However, for the masses, Once There Was will reward you with a wealth of adjectives among a sea of beasts, monsters, and creatures who you thought didn’t exist. It’s a novel that’s so descriptive of feathered birds and shaggy four-legged things that it all but leaves a mountain of dander in your lap when you put the book away. It exists on its own, but also opens up doors to characters whom you wouldn’t mind seeing again, as long as they’re presented with the same care and love as they were in Once There Was.

Once There Was is by Kiyash Monsef and is available on Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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