Horror Returns to the Biltmore Estate in Serafina and the Splintered Heart

Young shape-shifter Serafina has protected the grand Biltmore Estate and its people twice before, in the groundbreaking and spooky Serafina and the Black Cloak, and its enchanting follow up, Serafina and the Twisted Staff. Now she must do so a third time, in her most perilous adventure yet—Serafina and the Splintered Heart! It’s a Gothic southern mystery full of horror that’s also a warm and moving story of friendship and determination.
The story begins as Serafina wakes into terrible darkness, trapped beneath the ground. When she claws herself free, there are fresh terrors to face. Months seem to have passed at the Biltmore, her friend Braeden has been terribly injured, and the rivers and streams of the Blue Ridge Mountains are flooding under the onset of ferocious, unnatural, storms. Worst and most frightening of all, no one can see or hear her, and she can’t shift into her black panther form. How on earth can she be the Guardian of the Biltmore when she is powerless? But Serafina doesn’t give up. Slowly she pushes at the mystery of what happened to her and her friends, and slowly she learns the nature of the evil that is once more attacking the place and people she holds dear. To fight that evil, she must trust an old enemy…and trust herself as well, to do what is needed at the right time, even if it means turning a tool of black magic into a weapon for good.

Like its predecessors, Serafina and the Splintered Heart mixes dark and creepy magic with the late 19th-century opulence of the Vanderbilt family’s life at the Biltmore Estate, which is almost a character in its own right. Serafina is no longer the lonely outsider she once was, but she is still finding her place in the world. Fortunately, she has good friends to stand with her—Braeden, the Vanderbilt’s nephew, and Waysa, the Cherokee boy who’s a  fellow shapeshifting mountain cat. The fact that they can’t perceive her is what makes the first part of this third book so emotionally tense.

Serafina’s predicament at the book’s beginning is truly nightmarish, and layers of horror get added on generously. There are dark and twisted magics to confront, blood is shed, and spells are cast. In short, it is not for the faint of heart, but young fans of scary stories will love it! In the reassuring fashion of (most) middle grade books, the good guys win, though not in a fairy tale way. Braeden, who was badly hurt in an attack before the story begins and who pushes himself through his pain to do the almost impossible, doesn’t get to be magically healed at the end of the story. Likewise, we learn the tragedy of Waysa’s past, and though there is hope for happiness, the defeat of evil doesn’t bring everything back for him either. It’s up to the three kids, and a fourth who fights with them, to make their own hopeful path going forward into the new days to come.
Very readable, very entertaining, and now that there are three books in the series, Serafina provides even more reading enjoyment.
Serafina and the Splintered Heart is on B&N bookshelves now!