The author of the Oz-tinted Abadazad series creates another alternate world—this one with Indian/Buddhist/Hindu overtones—that supposedly exists only in a series of books but turns out to be real. Having been a rabid fan of the Imaginalis books for years, preteen Mehera is devastated to learn that the final volume has been canceled. Then she starts getting strange text messages and experiences a sort of perfect storm of belief and desire that carries her away to interdimensional Nolandia, where the Imaginalians are suspended and about to fade away in the wake of their world's destruction unless Mehera can build a mystical bridge to a new home. To accomplish this, she must vanquish the villain Pralaya, the embodiment of entropy, and work through some personal issues. In an odd climax, she persuades the books' embittered author to join her in a typewriter duet. This wordy but fluently written metafiction features two slam-bang opening scenes and enough action to keep the philosophical underpinnings in their place.
Grades 5-8.
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