ery special girl finds Death in a maze.

Ix Tatterfall befriends Nightmares, which sets her apart in her strange little town of Brittlewick. She can easily access the spiritual realm of the Labyrinth of Souls just by closing her eyes and willing it, while most humans who find themselves there are dead, lost souls, or members of the Candle Corps, a policelike force dedicated to order and safety. When the 12-year-old gets recruited to join their ranks on account of her special skills, the plot becomes a standard chosen-kid-in-magic-school story, with a rude legacy student, an affable ally, and a lot of broken rules. The story is chock-full of fanciful details, with ominous capitalized letters referring to many aspects of the world, like the Crystal Sleep, the Waking World, Dreamlight, and the Labyrinth itself. Chaos, Terror, Misery, Greed, and other Sorrows are intriguingly personified, but an endless array of Nightmare creatures and plants—Bupkis Birds, the Creak-o-dile, Snot Moss, Warty Hornswaggles, and many, many others—begin to feel like filler.

Early infodumps followed by a zippy plot came at the expense of character development and satisfying worldbuilding, with the entirety of the magic system, history, and cultures given surface-level treatment. Characters are referred to as varying shades of pale, tan, and brown, and there’s a normalized same-sex marriage. It’s a novel filled with adventure, action, fantasy and mystery. There is also a heartwarming story about acceptance and finding your people. This was an exquisite story for me to read.

Think Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland mixed with The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani and maybe The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and you’ve got this story!

I loved following Ix and her friends Ollie and Morrigan on their adventures. These characters were so well written! Ix alone is interesting with curious abilities and a good heart.

The settings were so well written and imaginative! The pacing was perfect for a middle grader, in my opinion. Not too fast leaving us confused, but not too slow leaving us bored. It was just right.

I’ve been drawn to Leslie Vedders young adult books before, and for some unknown infuriating reason I haven’t read any!! That will have to change, obviously. This story was just so fun and easy to read! 

Five stars!!

This is the kind of middle grade that I love! I don't often pick up a middle grade book and feel certain that I would've devoured it as a child, but I absolutely felt that way about The Labyrinth of Souls. Everything from the portal-based world building to the school setting to the group of misfit friends is something I absolutely would've adored as a child, and was so excited to find joy in as an adult as well. I definitely want to take a peek at a final copy to see the illustration! My one quibble was with the sheer number of nightmare creature names that get tossed at you throughout the book. Sometimes it seemed like they were shoved in there just for the clever wordplay, and it got a bit overwhelming for me at times. But I also know that many kids love to keep a mental catalogue of creatures form their favorite books, so that might be a draw for some readers.

I would like to first thank netgalley for approving this arc for me to give an honest review in return.

The story is quite promising, and for those of younger ages I feel overall they would enjoy it. For me it was not one I enjoyed as much, usually I do still quite enjoy middle grade series, but this was one that was difficult to get into. For the most prominent fact of constant use of gen alpha slang, I think a middle grade book can still do well and even better without the constant added slang.

The Labyrinth of Souls
The Labyrinth of Souls book 1
By Leslie Vedder
Illustrated by Abigail Larson
5 ⭐️

This felt like a solid, solid, middle grade adventure. On the spooky side with vivid imagery throughout. I personally love this for a Harry Potter-like alternative. The potential for creatures to be a main aspect throughout this series is high, which is 10/10 in my book. I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!
4 stars

Harry Potter wasn't the creation of magical schools, but it definitely made them bigger and more of a thing, so it's hard to stand out, but I think this one did. The lore was very interesting, and the villain both had understandable reasoning while expanding upon said lore. Each of the main characters were interesting enough to be invested in (okay, Ollie maybe not as much so, but still). I enjoyed the Nightmares a lot as well, from the dangerous ones to the adorable ones to the Sorrows. Also, like, all the silly names for the Nightmares and how they affected emotions and such depending on the domain they belonged to.

Now that I think about it, the characters were solid overall, but my biggest joy was the world. It just scratched so many of the right itches for me. It also just felt like it'd work so well as an animation. The world was vibrant and full of life. And I just can't wait to see more of it.

Overall, something about this series just appeals to me, and I plan to stick with it.

What a fun, spooky, imaginative middle grade read! The Labyrinth of Souls follows Ix Tatterfall, a weirdo heroine (and I mean that in a good way) who can't stop Nightmare creatures from following her and who can enter the mysterious Labyrinth of Souls with ease. Throughout the story she learns about her powers (which are just as mysterious as the Labyrinth), goes on plenty of mischievous and dangerous adventures, and gets in tons of trouble (for a good cause). Amidst the fun chaos is plenty of seriousness--Ix struggles with grief and insecurity, deals with bullying from both peers and adults, and tries to learn about, and come to terms with, her family's strange past--and plenty of heart--Ix kindles a few touching friendships (the most compelling of which is her friendship with Morrigan Bea), finds companionship with the cutest little Inkling named Hanky, and accepts her weirdness as something special and integral to herself.

My absolute favorite part of this novel was the worldbuilding. Leslie Vedder really outdid herself on this front! The Labyrinth was awesome with its unique domains, each with their own dangers and Nightmare creatures that were SO well-fitted and thought out. The Sorrows (aka the leaders of the domains) were each entertaining and imaginative as well, and I loved learning about them. I absolutely LOVED the huge array of Nightmare creatures, from the precious Inklings and Mistcats to the terrifying Memory Eaters and everything in between, all of which felt so integral to the world and made it feel very fleshed out. I also appreciated the light vs. dark theming and how that was reflected in the naming of different elements of the story (ie. Dreamlight, Candle Corps, Brittlewick (wick as in candle), Shadow Render, etc). I thought the various portals, Doors to Nowhere, secret stairways, etc. added a fun bit of "what comes next" as Ix and co. went about their days in the Keep; and while I don't fully understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to keep powerful Nightmares trapped at the Keep near all the students, it was easy enough to suspend my disbelief and consider a fun element of "danger around every corner."

My main complaints with the novel probably only apply to older readers--if I had read this as a child, I don't think any of these things would have bothered me! The first was that the dialogue, at times, was a bit unnatural, which took me out of the otherwise well-crafted story. This mainly stuck out to me at the end when the main villain was revealed, but again when I was younger I doubt I would have noticed or cared because this part was fast-paced and engaging. I also found several parts of the story to be predictable due to heavy foreshadowing, and I figured out almost every twist well before the reveals, though I don't know if younger readers would feel the same way. I can imagine lots of readers being surprised and entertained at the various twists and turns. My final gripe is that some of the professors seemed to be horribly mean for no reason at all (well, they did have reasons, but it felt excessive) but it might just be that I'm an adult that would be appalled at other adults being so blatantly mean to children. Again if I were younger I don't know that I'd think so hard about this part. Captain Kel and Professor Swann were wonderfully kind and supportive which helped cancel out the meanness from the other adults. (Plus they're the cutest couple!!)

All in all, despite some of the things mentioned above, I thought this was a very fast-paced, engaging, and imaginative read with an amazingly interesting world and an atypical, loveable heroine. I appreciated the themes of friendship, grief, and accepting oneself, as well as the message that it's important to understand others (whether they be Nightmares or real life people!) before judging or condemning them. I think it's a great message for younger readers and it was very well-integrated into the narrative and worldbuilding without being overbearing. And while this book wrapped up very nicely and could work as a standalone, I'm excited to see that it's the first in a series!! I'm eager to see what Ix and co. do next, and I think plenty of younger readers would fall in love with this story and be thrilled to read more!

Phenomenal!!!!! I absolutely enjoyed this!!! I can imagine that this would one day be the #1 book in a New York Times best-seller's list.

This book follows the adventures of our protagonist, Ix Tatterfall, as she navigates her way through school, learns how to deal with nightmares, and discovers her unique powers along the way. A lonely girl, she eventually makes some very loyal friends, and has tons of adventures and close-scrapes along the way.

The concept of this book was so unique, fresh, unusual.....I could not put this down (even though it's intended audience is Children/Middle school readers). This is just one of those books that everyone can enjoy. I cannot wait for the next installment in this series!!!! I am eager to explore more of this world and watch as Ix's powers unfold and get stronger.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

Overall, I enjoyed this. It's a delightful middle grade novel with elements of whimsy and horror (but not scary scary horror) within it. It's very much "Wednesday Addams" vibes with the main character Ix. I also did not see the twist at the end with the revelations coming, so I was pleasantly surprised at that. I also love the other sort of story telling elements and creatures in it, along with just the messages and ragtag band of friends. I would be okay if more books happen!

Cute middle grade fantasy about a girl who can see and speak with nightmare creatures, and slip away to the hidden world of the Labyrinth. My two boys, ages 8 and 10, really enjoyed having this read aloud to them for a bedtime story, and were able to take turns reading it with some help from Mom on the bigger or more complicated words. A fun adventure!

A world in which nightmare creatures are actually real? Um yeah, sign me up (but only in fiction please, I cannot handle this in my own life thank youuu). A fun premise that's made all the more lively (pun intended) by the wholly quirky main character Ix who leads the reader through a wild world.
While the writing style meandered a bit too often between info-dumping or jumping ahead over important aspects, I still had a good time reading this and would try more from the author. The goth vibes were impeccable for a milennial like me.
In any case, if your kid is a fan of nightmares, supernatural creatures or just really into spooky stuff, then this one's for them!

A world where Nightmare creatures were real and policed by an order called Candle Corps. A young girl with secrets who saw these Nightmares and could navigate the Labyrinth of Souls, with a name like Ix Tatterfall. Who wouldn’t be intrigued?
This was my first book by Leslie Vedder and I liked the author’s writing style a lot, with elaborate descriptions, especially of the different types of Nightmares and Sorrows. The world-building was immersive and fun to read about.
I liked Ix at first and I enjoyed learning more about the Candle Corps and the new friends she made. I didn’t like how she dealt with some of the adversities in her path but she redeemed herself in the end.
I found the plot twists a bit predictable and it was a bit frustrating that all the clues were right there but the main characters took ages to figure it out. That said, I liked the diverse characters and the plot-line was a good one, with a fun ending.
I'm definitely interested in trying out more books by this author.

This exciting magical mystery is full of suspense and magical characters that are sure to please middle grade readers. It's about Ix Tattersall, who lives with aunt in a community that is fighting against scary magical creatures called Nightmare creatures. More and more Nightmare creatures are coming out of the Labyrinth and that's not really a good thing. Ix doesn't mind most of the Nightmare creatures and knows how to deal with even the really scary ones because she's been entering the Labyrinth since she was small. She's invited to join the Candle Corps, which is a group that tries to contain the Nightmare creatures and she's hoping to find answers to some of her big questions, like can she get her dad back and what really happened to her mom? This is a fun, imaginative story with big themes of trust, friendship, family and connections, and what you would do for love. I think the kids are going to like this one a lot.

Start of a series for middle graders who are into fun, goth, parallel world travelling ! Wish the illustrations were in the eARC because the illustrator is great

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The cover and synopsis drew me initially to this book, but the characters and their growth took hold of me. I instantly fell in love with Ix and her friends Morrigan and Ollie. Ix is a determined headstrong MC but with a heart of gold who cares deeply for those closest to her. I thoroughly enjoyed watching each of these characters grow as they learned how to navigate at the Candle Corps, a place that is not too friendly to Ix or Morrigan due to their unique abilities or view sets.

The worldbuilding alone is AMAZING. Don't even get me started on the unique world of the Labyrinth itself. I loved how Vedder created this Nightmare world and all the creatures within it. The Sorrows were amazing and I hope to see more of them in the future and learn more about the Labyrinth in general.

Some of the minor characters (namely lesser seen professors and students) felt bland (most were just mean and rude) but this didn't bother me too much since the important characters were fairly fleshed out. I do with the villain though was a little more fleshed out, but I do think the overall wrap-up of that arc was great and did leave me guessing who was behind the troubles they faced.

This book tackles grief, bullying, and complex emotions in a beautiful way that at various parts I found myself tearing up as the characters learned to deal with these different aspects. Additionally, the book introduces secondary characters who are queer in such a normal way without it being a big deal within the world.

This is a great book for middle school readers who are interested in the horror genre. The book has many fantasy elements, but it sprinkles horror aspects throughout without being overly scary. I can't wait to see more adventures with Ix, Morrigan, and Ollie.

Students in upper elementary and middle school will enjoy this magical mystery. There’s a lot to like here, but, for me personally, I felt like it borrowed a bit too much from other tales. There’s a cat-like entity that straight up is the Cheshire Cat, and readers will notice lots of similarities to Harry Potter. I liked the book, but I wish it had been a little more unique. That said, I think that it will be a hit with children.

Thanks to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

3.5 stars, rounded up.

CW: Some scenes are genuinely scary…make sure that your child can handle the horror elements before handing them a copy.

I’ve been on such a kick with middle grade reads recently and I’m adding this to my LOVED list! It was super spooky and eerie, but full of adventure, heart, and love. Forever a fan of Ix and the crew.

The Labyrinth of Souls is a spellbinding journey into a world brimming with eerie magic, unsettling Nightmares, and a heroine who refuses to be defined by fear. Leslie Vedder masterfully crafts a richly detailed fantasy filled with atmospheric tension, unforgettable creatures, and a high-stakes mystery that keeps readers enthralled.

Ix Tatterfall is a compelling protagonist—an outcast with a secret ability that makes her both dangerous and invaluable. The Candle Corps Academy setting adds an exciting layer of discovery, with its unique mix of allies and potential foes, including the fiery Morrigan Bea and the endearing Ollie Pembrooke. The Nightmares are delightfully creepy, from the mischievous Inklings to the terrifying Raggedy Jack, whose presence looms like a ghostly warning throughout the novel.

While the pacing slows in some places due to worldbuilding, the story’s intricate lore and eerie atmosphere more than make up for it. Fans of dark fantasy and twisted fairy tales will love The Labyrinth of Souls for its haunting magic, fierce characters, and thrilling mystery.

Ten years ago, Ix Tatterfall’s father’s soul became lost in the Labyrinth of Souls. Ever since that time, Ix has been determined to return her father’s soul to his body, but the Labyrinth is as complicated as it sounds, and it is designed to keep souls inside. The ease with which Ix navigates the Labyrinth leads Ix to be invited to a special school for future members of the Candle Corps where Ix hopes she will finally find a place where she belongs. But when strange things begin happening inside the Labyrinth and the Candle Corps starts to investigate, all of Ix’s secrets threaten to surface. This mild middle grade horror story incorporates the dynamic nature of death inside a maze that is filled with sorrows of all kinds. Once Ix begins classes at Covenant Keep, the narrative becomes strongly reminiscent of the Harry Potter books, which may appeal to some readers while feeling trite to others. Short chapters and occasional illustrations help to make the story engaging for a wide range of middle grade readers, and the level of danger in which Ix finds herself is balanced by the capabilities Ix has to defend herself. Throughout the novel, Ix must rely on her own strength in order to solve puzzles and outsmart characters who stand in her way, which inspires young readers to be the heroes of their own stories, as well. This accessible novel will appeal to readers who enjoy light horror within the framework of a familiar storytelling style.

This book is definitely for the kid-friendly gothic-esque lovers, like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, but the worldbuilding still stands firmly as its own thing and I really loved that! I loved that there were so many different Nightmare creatures, with some being silly and some being dangerous. The titular Labyrinth and the Sorrows were brimming with life and character; I really hope we get more of them in the sequel.

Ix is a very enduring, lovable protagonist. Her love of puns, the connections she has/forms with various Nightmare creatures, the found family she forms with Morrigan, Ollie, and Captain Kel and his husband, it just made me love this kid a lot. I hope Vedder has her whole school journey planned out, because I really wanna see how this kid grows and changes with every book.

I could gush a bit more, but it's better if I don't say anymore. I think kids and adults alike will love this book when it officially releases this February!