School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-The wise witch of Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga, is the conduit for this coming-of-age adventure where both the living and the dead teach timely lessons about love and loss. Twelve-year-old narrator Marinka has reluctantly accepted her destiny: to learn the duties of a guardian (aka "yaga") who guides the dead through the Gate to a peaceful afterlife. Although she loves learning from her grandmother, Baba, and living in the strange house with chicken legs, she is tired of constantly picking up and moving, never making a friend among the living. When she stubbornly enacts her own plan for her future, Marinka is faced with choices that have permanent consequences. Anderson has written a plucky, compassionate heroiner in Marinka. She is completely relatable as she struggles with the desire for independence while knowing she has much to learn from her elders, peers, pets, and, surprisingly, her dwelling. The story brings Neil Gaiman's Coraline and the work of Tim Burton to mind: the first scene opens with Marinka building a fence of human femur bones with delicately balanced skulls atop. VERDICT A thoughtfully crafted, macabre masterpiece for middle grade readers, this debut novel also has the read-aloud appeal of a beloved folk or fairy tale.-Jane Miller, Nashville Public Library © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old Marinka chafes against her lonely destiny as she trains to be a Yaga like her grandmother, a witch who guides the dead to their afterlife among the stars. When she rebelliously pursues her desires at the expense of her responsibilities, everything spirals out of control. In this lyrical story, inspired by Russian folklore and shot through with grief, Marinka finds a way to balance her needs with those of others. Glos. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In this reimagining of Russian tales of Baba Yaga, Yagas act as benevolent Guardians of The Gate between the worlds of the living and the dead.Orphan Marinka descends on both sides from the first Yaga, whose house plied the Russian steppes. Her grandmother Baba, who is also a Yaga, is training her to take over this important job when the time comes. But the 12-year-old doesn't want to be a Yaga. A Yaga's life is secret and lonely; her (or his) only friends are the dead who stop in nightly for a celebration of their lives before the Yaga guides them back to the stars from whence they came. Then two life-changing events happen in succession: Marinka learns a devastating truth about her life and Baba disappears. Marinka has to find a way to get Baba back, but her plan may change everything forever. Anderson has fully and lovingly developed her Yaga mythology. Although the Yaga story originates in Eastern Europe, these Yagas travel all over the world to guide the dead. Marinka's story takes her to England's Lake District, an unidentified desert, a marketplace in North Africa, and to the Russian steppes. Yagas are kind, and their chicken-legged houses aren't merely a means to get from place to place. They are sentient creatures, expressing emotion and magically meeting their inhabitants' needs. Some diversity is implied based on location, and Marinka's Russian descent likewise implies that she is white.Heartbreaking, uplifting, and absolutely beautiful. (Fantasy. 8-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
