Book Review of Embassy of the Dead: Destiny Calling
The Children’s Book Review
Embassy of the Dead: Destiny Calling
Written by Will Mabbitt
Illustrated by Taryn Knight
Ages: 8+ | 240 Pages
Publisher: Walker Books (2022)| ISBN: 9781536210491
What to Expect: Death, afterlife, friends, destiny, ghosts, and demons.
The third book in Mabbitt’s cheerfully spooky middle-grade Embassy of the Dead series, Destiny Calling invites readers to share one more adventure with cautious Jake, bossy Cora, and fun-loving Sab.
Unwilling though he might be to be the youngest undoer of the Embassy of the Dead, Jake—aka Wormling—has nevertheless managed to save the world from the demon Fenris on two separate occasions. Now his work with the Embassy is taking a more complicated turn—if that is possible. It seems there are factions at the Embassy, each with its own hidden agenda, and Jake is caught in the middle. There is a single traitor left in the Embassy, and it seems Jake is the Chosen One who can defeat the traitor once and for all.
But can that traitor really be the young, innocent, rather endearing young prince, Arkus the Invincible? Before he can fulfill his destiny, Jake will need to work out who is telling the truth and who is trying to play him…
The story is as fast-paced as its predecessors and filled with the same dark and slightly silly humor. The characters – living and dead – are varied and interesting, and this time the adventure leaves some room for reflection on more serious issues, such as what it means to find one’s purpose in life or when to know whether to do as you’ve been told. Knight’s black and white illustrations have just the right gothic feel and add interest without distracting from the story.
Embassy of the Dead: Destiny Calling is middle-grade fiction with humor, excitement, and a believable premise – oh, and a pet ghost-fox. What more do you need, really?
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About the Author
Will Mabbitt writes. He writes in libraries, in cafes, on the toilet, and sometimes, when his laptop runs out of power, he writes in his head. Before he got paid to do this, he worked in London and spent a lot of time stuck on the train—which is where he wrote his first book, The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones. He’s written loads of books since then, and his reputation for anarchic humor and sinister whimsy creeps like a poisonous mold across the otherwise whistle-clean world of children’s publishing.
Dr. Jen Harrison reviewed Embassy of the Dead: Destiny Calling. Discover more books like Embassy of the Dead: Destiny Calling by reading our reviews and articles tagged with death, afterlife, friends, destiny, and ghosts.
