Though the good-vs.-evil and kids-with-secret-powers themes may be well worn by now, nothing about this story, from its setting and characters to its intricate use of myth to create an alternative history of earth, is typical. When Dee lines up the Celtic Crow-Goddess and the Egyptian Bastet (who lives in an L.A. mansion, of course) to fight against Greek Hekate, who lives in Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree (currently located in a shadow world just off Mill Valley), you know you're not in Kansas anymore.

Though an appendix with references for all the characters and places mentioned in the story would have been welcome, this book, first of a planned series, is plain old-fashioned fun, with an intellectual gloss that will give fans something to look into while waiting for the next in the series. Put it together with The Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, and The Corydon Trilogy by Tobias Druitt, and you've practically got a college course in mythology.