Moriarty, Chris. The Inquisitor’s Apprentice. Harcourt

Moriarty, Chris.       The Inquisitor’s Apprentice.  Harcourt Brace/Houghton Mifflin(Macmillan), 2011.        343p.   $16.99.            ISBN 978-0-547-58135-4           ms/hs   Fantasy           E-BN

Thirteen-year-old Sacha Kessler can see witches.  This would probably be an asset in any place other than the Lower East Side of New York City at the turn of the twentieth century.  Sacha’s world is an alternate universe where magic is an ordinary way of living and everyone uses it to some extent.   After Sacha discovers his abilities, he is quickly apprenticed to the great Inquisitor Wolf to help stop magical crime in the city.  He is paired with Lily Astral, a girl from Millionaire’s Mile, whose life is the opposite of life in Sacha’s Hester Street tenement.  The three become entangled in a web of intrigue that revolves around attempts to assassinate Thomas Edison through the machinations of a magical dybbuk.   Sacha’s world is a rich and colorful one, filled with all the ethnic groups that were found in New York at the time (each with a special kind of supernatural ability), and inhabited by some important historical figures like Harry Houdini and Teddy Roosevelt.  The rich atmosphere of the city is fully realized and adds a great deal to the story line.  As the plot unfolds, Sacha must make use of his Jewish heritage to prevent the dybbuk from stealing his own life.  This exciting fantasy will appeal greatly to readers.  The Yiddish words are explained mostly in context, and the twists in the names of the important personages are easily deciphered.  The Inquisitor's Apprentice is very much in the style of "Harry Potter meets the Lower East Side" and leaves you ready for a sequel.                   Subject: Magic -- Fiction            Susan Ogintz