Overall I think this is a really solid choice for middle grade readers. I appreciated the relationship between Olga and her sister, particularly the intense jealousy and love she felt for her. I thought that a great realistic and positive sibling relationship. Olga also has complex relationships with her father and step mother that play well into her character development through the book. Olga is very brave and quite clever which serves her well on her journey. She also struggles with realistic difficulties that I feel sometimes get glossed over in fantasy and it was interesting to see how she triumphed.

Her journey was well written, the setting and Russian influence worked well to create a vibrant and at times dangerous world. I did wish to see more of the bird’s society and would have liked a greater insight into their history as well. The concept of a magical bird country was a big part of what attracted me to the book and while I enjoyed what was shown I did want more. However, the Yagas by far made up for that disappointment. I thought their culture and magic system was well written and I particularly loved the glimpse of the magic school. Overall, it is a fun adventure with a great magic system that I think middle grade readers will enjoy.

Disclaimer: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley!

For those of you who don't already know, this is a Middle-Grade book about a civil war that occurs in Tsaaretsvo. The sister dynamics is adorable and if you're into stories about sisters, then this is for you!

This was in many ways a solid fantasy adventure story with a very unique world and focus; a world full of ancient cartographers, a map is not simply a map.

I think this book had a lot of things going for it; the characters were great even though I didn’t connect very much with the main character, Olga

I don’t know why I didn’t connect Olga; something just felt off and I kept thinking, based on the way she acted, that she would be at least 17, but I believe she was only 13 – correct me if I’m wrong. A lot of pretty significant things happen to her in the course of only a few days, she seems a pretty isolated child but she does not really react much on what’s happening around her. At times she felt a bit cardboard-ish.

The plot minus all the exposition is a good one if a tad predictable. (Predictable for an adult reader, probably not for child readers.) The politics, the mystery, the journey, and the working with maps is all a lot of fun.
This is a perfectly good middle-grade adventure story. I think my issue with it was that, ultimately, I'm a little too old to be the good target audience for it -- so I think this speaks more to my own tastes than it does to the book itself. Had I been, perhaps, 10 or 11 years old, I might have enjoyed this more than I did.