Sasha vs the Whole Wide World (and Dragons) - (and Dragons) 1
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Ages: 16-18, 18+
A voice-driven, YA urban fantasy road-trip adventure with dragons. Lorelai Gilmore energy meets Fitzwilliam Darcy vibes packed with humor and clean, swoony, romantic banter.
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Eighteen-year-old Sasha Clems didn’t mean to steal a seadragon’s magic and tick-off a magic-handler. Or err… More correctly, she did. She just didn’t mean to get caught.
Sasha is tired of being poor. Tired of foreclosure notices tacked to her family’s fridge, tired of working four jobs, tired of dreaming about college rather than attending.
When one morning she witnesses a dying seadragon expel its magic in the form of a basketball-sized jewel, she grabs it. The last time this happened, the jewel sold in the high nine-figures, but only after a kidnapping, three deaths, and an international manhunt by the Magic-Handlers’ Alliance.
No reward without a little risk.
Sasha bolts off on a cross-country race to the single person she trusts to help auction off the jewel. Chasing her is the government, the Magic-Handler’s Alliance, more dragons, and the hottest teenage magician on the face of the planet.
Even worse, the more Sasha discovers about the world of magic and the nature of the seadragon itself, the more she realizes there are things and people that just might be more important than money.
Maybe…? Because Sasha is really done with being poor.
Reviews
Rachel Taylor Thompson's Sasha vs the Whole Wide World (and Dragons) takes place in a world similar to ours but filled with magical creatures and gifted humans, called magic-handlers, capable of wielding the power of magic. That said, all of this matters little to Sasha Clems, a young girl from a poor non-magical family, more concerned about trying to make ends meet than obtaining powerful spells. Yet a chance encounter with a dying seadragon turns her life upside down when she takes the creature's Semis, an amalgamation of raw magic coveted by all magic-handlers. Now, Sasha must navigate the intricacies of the magic world, figuring out who she can and can't trust while dodging pursuers to find a trustworthy buyer for the Semis. I loved everything about this novel, but Sasha is, without a doubt, the star here: her irreverence, sarcastic remarks, and quips keep the narration entertaining and full of personality, while her skeptical nature and inner conflicts add depth and intrigue. Her family dynamics and interactions with other characters, especially Ari, are also interesting and refreshing. Ari, in particular, seems like a stereotypical love interest at first glance but reveals himself to be quite endearing and unique. Rachel Taylor Thompson's worldbuilding also deserves praise: you could make an entire cinematic universe out of the setting, with its many organizations, conspiracies, magical creatures, and history. If you're looking for a fast-paced YA novel with plenty of adventure, fantasy, and romance, I wholeheartedly recommend Sasha vs the Whole Wide World (and Dragons).
