A review by corky12
The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu

3.0

As an adult, I love kids' books. This one, though, is better-suited for children themselves. I found myself agreeing with the twins' mom and becoming very irritated at how stubborn the girls (especially Iris) were acting. They act like being separated into different class is the end of the world, and as an adult, I agree that was the best thing for them.
Tags show this as a fantasy, but the magic doesn't show up until much later in the story. We spend half the narrative in a realistic school setting with some strange (though not unexplainable) occurrences. Suddenly, magic! The author could have blended the magic more into the story, so it didn't feel so out of place.
SpoilerWhen George winds up as the villain, I was disappointed and a bit confused. Kids aren't supposed to talk to strangers, sure. But I still felt like the story stole the only friend Iris had. Worse, it perpetuated the stereotype of "he acts weird, so he's a bad guy." There were no hints to his being evil until he started talking about power. The ending also didn't wrap up how both girls were wonderful human beings as individuals. It just solidified their idea of needing to be together. Which was a step backward in the character development of everyone.