4.0
Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake
ByPublisher Description
A girl grappling with grief begins investigating the strange—potentially supernatural—hidden history of her new town in this debut epic middle grade fantasy from the New York Times bestselling Dungeons & Dragons expert Michael Witwer!
Twelve-year-old Vivian Van Tassel is angry: angry about her mom’s mysterious and sudden death; at her dad for uprooting their lives in Chicago to move to the sleepy, creepy town of Midnight Lake; at the bullies who seem to be drawn to her no matter how much she tries to keep her head down…but mostly angry at herself for causing bad things to happen wherever she goes.
When a class assignment at her new school prompts Vivian to research the history of Midnight Lake, she quickly discovers her new home is even more peculiar than it seems. Not only was the infamous Beasts & Battlements (B&B) roleplaying game invented in Midnight Lake, but there are also some hard to explain coincidences about the town and its history that seem to tie back to the game in a way that’s as puzzling as it is disturbing.
When the biggest oddballs at school attempt to befriend Vivian and introduce her to their game of B&B, she’s torn between wanting to follow the path that has always worked for her—keeping everyone at arm's length—and giving these strange kids and their even stranger fantasy game a chance.
Maybe that’s what it will take to get to the bottom of the mystery of Midnight Lake…and why Vivian was really brought there in the first place.
Twelve-year-old Vivian Van Tassel is angry: angry about her mom’s mysterious and sudden death; at her dad for uprooting their lives in Chicago to move to the sleepy, creepy town of Midnight Lake; at the bullies who seem to be drawn to her no matter how much she tries to keep her head down…but mostly angry at herself for causing bad things to happen wherever she goes.
When a class assignment at her new school prompts Vivian to research the history of Midnight Lake, she quickly discovers her new home is even more peculiar than it seems. Not only was the infamous Beasts & Battlements (B&B) roleplaying game invented in Midnight Lake, but there are also some hard to explain coincidences about the town and its history that seem to tie back to the game in a way that’s as puzzling as it is disturbing.
When the biggest oddballs at school attempt to befriend Vivian and introduce her to their game of B&B, she’s torn between wanting to follow the path that has always worked for her—keeping everyone at arm's length—and giving these strange kids and their even stranger fantasy game a chance.
Maybe that’s what it will take to get to the bottom of the mystery of Midnight Lake…and why Vivian was really brought there in the first place.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesVivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake Reviews
4.0
“Cute read. I liked the HP and Star Wars references. The world of LARP was interesting too. Would have ranked higher but I got overwhelmed with all the different monsters. This book could have been half as long as it was.”
“Vivian Van Tassel has relocated with her father from their apartment in Chicago to a creepy house in a small town on Midnight Lake. The recent loss of her mother follows them everywhere they go, tainting their relationship with each other and with the people around them. Reluctant to make new friends, and quick to make new enemies, Vivian begins to settle into her new town through a school history project, and a group of misfits playing Beasts & Battlements (B&B), a roleplaying game, underneath the school’s stairwell. Through the game and through her research into the Middle School, which is also the former Sanitorium, Vivian learns that her new town is not all that it seems to be. There are also indications that maybe her family is not all it seems to be.
Within the first few pages, Witwer accomplishes a couple of things that impressed me, and made me want to keep reading. He quickly establishes that this is a world of fantasy within our modern world. He introduces mythical beings called “Vulture-Bears”, the use of longbows, and cell phones, all within the first event of the book. No question that we are talking about both mythical and modern, and the combination as depicted by Witwer is highly compelling.
Two pages later he addresses the elephant in the room for all YA modern-mythical stories of recent years, the Harry Potter phenomenon. How do you write a story about a middle grade teenager, finding a new life in a new school, surrounded by magical things she once thought fictitious, without stumbling upon Harry Potter? Well, Witwer just takes the bull by the horns. Vivan calls a fellow schoolmate a “Malfoy” describing this as “Harry Potter’s snobby rival.” It is seamlessly done, and rather than setting up this story as another Harry Potter variant, sets Harry Potter up as a fictional work within this universe. In one fell swoop, Harry Potter is acknowledged as an influence on today’s readers, and passed over for this “real” adventure. It is beautifully done.
<em>Harry Potter</em> turns out to be a recurring theme in the book, as Vivian carries around a copy of the first book with her, and makes many comparisons from her real life to the fictional world of Harry. Establishing further that the “Potterverse” is fictional while the town of Midnight Lake is “real.” Witwer pays homage to many of his own favorites throughout the book, most clearly in Beasts & Battlements but also in some overt references to The Princess Bride and in some more understated references to The Lord of the Rings. These references are woven in nicely, and lend some much appreciated nostalgia for this YA reading mom. For my son, Harry Potter and Dungeons and Dragons are two of his passions and I am excited for him to sink his teeth into this book.
The development of the story, the town, the mythology around the game, and the friendships that Vivian builds are all executed well in their own right, and combine together in a really well developed universe. It is a page turner. I read the book on a stormy day at home with the family, and it is the first time in a while that I have finished a book in a single day. It is the first time in even longer that I have held a book in my hand to read while cooking supper, I just didn’t want to put it down. The book does stand nicely on its own, but also sets up a really interesting universe, possibly even a multiverse, for future books. I will definitely be excited for those to come out, and hopefully for many of them in the future, this is a world I want to explore further.”
“This was such a fun middle grade fantasy book! I loved following Vivian as she and her dad move to a small town and as she discovers some of the town’s secrets. I appreciated the various Harry Potter references throughout the book. There was so many elements packed into this book, keeping it an intriguing read. I think middle graders will enjoy reading this one.”
“After her mother's unexpected death, twelve-year-old Vivian Van Tassel and her father leave their home in Chicago to start over in a small town called Midnight Lake. Between the mean teachers, the girls who bully her, and her dad's constant absence because of his new job, Vivian feels alone and angry. Things start to look up when Vivian meets a group of kids who invite her to play Beasts and Battlements (B&B) with them, a fantasy role playing game that was invented right there in the town. Meanwhile, Vivian's class project on the town's history leads her to suspect that this B&B game might be connected to the town's unexplained animal attacks, a mysterious gray man, and strange creature sightings. While Vivian is determined to discover the secret of Midnight Lake on her own, the dangers she encounters might mean enlisting help from some friends after all.
This was a fun book! It's a fairly standard middle grade fantasy/adventure novel. I definitely enjoyed it and would recommend it.
I liked Vivian as the main character; she's tough and smart. She's going through a hard time after her mother's death but that doesn't stop her from investigating all the mysterious happenings around the town. I loved all the Beasts and Battlements lore; it is basically reskinned Dungeons and Dragons but I think it would be enjoyable regardless of the reader's familiarity with the game. I liked the mystery/investigation aspect. The prophecy and prologue helped set up the story so that as I was reading I could connect the dots. There were some funny moments too, though it's far heavier on the mystery and RPG elements than humor.
Some things I liked less: As Vivian is a huge Harry Potter fan, be prepared for a ton of references to the series. I didn't expect HP to have such a significant presence in a D&D inspired book. It's also hard not to make comparisons between the two stories while reading; especially since Vivian herself does that for us!
Also, I understand that Vivian is grieving and reluctant to make friends, but I was disappointed at how much time she spent on her own. Especially with all the Harry Potter love, I was hoping that she and the misfits would work together more to solve the big mystery. I really wish that they had been pulled into the investigation earlier in the book. Still, this seems like it could be the start of a series so hopefully in future adventures the other kids will play a bigger role.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the ARC!”
About Michael Witwer
Michael Witwer is a New York Times bestselling author known for his work on the Hugo Award–nominated Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana, the critically acclaimed Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons, and the bestselling Heroes’ Feast: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook. His most recent works include Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Visual Dictionary, and when he’s not writing books about games, he loves playing them. Michael lives in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife, two daughters, and two sons. Vivian Van Tassel and the Secret of Midnight Lake is his debut middle grade fiction novel.
Other books by Michael Witwer
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