(3) YA Raven Duet series. When a Native American trickster forces sixteen-year-old Alaskan Jase to claim his Native ancestry and heal the earth, he must decide who he is and what he is willing to give. A follow-up (and conclusion) to Trickster’s Girl, this novel mixes mythology and modern life in intriguing yet relatable ways. The action-packed story features an exciting plot and a likable protagonist.

Reviewer: Jenn Matters

(2) 4-6 This trilogy ender (The Goblin Wood, The Goblin Gate) finds idealistic knight Tobin and hedgewitch Makenna struggling to return to the Realm. Tobin is captured by barbarian invaders while Makenna faces murder charges. Bell's talent for character building along with her illumination of competing factions' motivations are on full display. A thunderous climactic battle brings this series to a highly satisfying close.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2011

(4) YA Raven Duet series. In 2094, Kelsa encounters a handsome youth who claims he's Raven, the "Native American trickster spirit." Kelsa must take up a quest, begun by a Navajo shaman in 1892, to heal her environment. The theme is timely, but the major restoration that happens here is a little facile (as is the depiction and appropriation of folkloric trickster Raven).

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker

(2) 4-6 This sequel to The Goblin Wood finds Jeriah of Rovanscourt trying to retrieve his brother, Tobin, from the otherworld. To do that, Jeriah makes a deal with some goblins and poses as the Hierarch's squire. Bell, long adept in portraying social systems and political intrigues, marries this talent with sympathetic characters struggling through challenges both external and internal.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2010

(2) 4-6 Knight and Rogue series. Errant knight Michael and his squire, former rogue Fisk, unwittingly embark on their third adventure when Michael's cousin Rosamund arrives on their doorstep. Determined to marry her true love, a traveling player named Rudy, she begs Fisk and Michael's help in going against her noble guardian's wishes. This breezy, good-humored novel is an engaging light read that successfully mixes comedy and suspense.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010

(3) 4-6 Shield, Sword, and Crown series. When his friend Weasel is taken hostage in an attempted coup, naive but likable Prince Edoran sets out alone to rescue him--but inexperience may be his own worst enemy. Time spent incognito in a fishing village teaches him the strength of character needed to accept his destiny. Bell brings her well-conceived, well-executed series to a satisfying conclusion.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) 4-6 Having left home in some disgrace, Fisk (The Last Knight) returns to help with family troubles. It doesn't boost his reputation when former would-be knight Michael shows up. With careful sleuthing, Fisk and Michael expose the truth. Bell writes with a buoyant, easygoing style, creating character and setting with economy and giving her readers a lighthearted, but also warm-hearted, tale.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2008

(3) 4-6 Shield, Sword, and Crown series. Charged by her former-outlaw-turned-military-commander mother with befriending Prince Edoran, Arisa finds in him an ally in her covert investigations into palace intrigue and the missing Sword of Waters. With Weasel (from Shield of Stars), the trio thwarts a treasonous plot--but Arisa's own loyalties are strained. A well-told tale with sympathetic characters and irresistible challenges.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) 4-6 Sir Michael, accompanied by mysterious squire Fisk, takes to the road to do good deeds. Their first act together is a daring rescue; unfortunately, the damsel they free is a murderess. Bell's plot is nicely inventive, and she writes with a robust cheer and a peppery sense of irony. Michael and Fisk are both appealing, as is the quasi-medieval, magical setting.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2007

(3) 4-6 Shield, Sword, and Crown series. Pickpocket-turned-law-clerk Weasel has two weeks to save his employer from execution. With girl-adventurer Arisa Benison, Weasel goes in search of reinforcements for a jail break. Although Weasel's oft-stated philosophy of looking out for number one is never made credible, Bell soon dispenses with it and settles down to a good old-fashioned trickster caper. This offering sustains Bell's reputation for thought-provoking light fantasy.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) 4-6 Prince Perryndon learns that the dragon ravaging his father's kingdom can be slain by a true bard accompanied by a unicorn and wielding a mythic sword, so he sets out to assemble the elements of the prophecy. Though the story is pitched to younger readers, the tale is subtle enough to capture older readers in its spell as well.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2006

(3) YA Farsala Trilogy series. Three heroes, Jiaan, Kavi, and Soraya, banded together to lead their country against the invading Hrum in the second book of this well-imagined fantasy series; here, the trio impersonates the mythic hero Sorahb. Through warfare, magic, and trickery they deliver Farsala from the occupation. Sympathetic characters, ingenious episodes, and taut emotional construction bring the series to a stirring finish.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) YA Farsala Trilogy series. The empire-building Hrum, who defeated the feudal kingdom of Farsala in Fall of a Kingdom, are now mopping up pockets of resistance. The three heroes from the first book join forces to defend the fortress city of Mazad. The military strategy and clever, Scarlet Pimpernel-style ruses of the resistance make for entertaining reading, as does the richly worked pseudo-historical setting.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2005

(3) 4-6 After he passes the wizard's test proving he has magical powers, Dayven apprentices to the drunken wizard Reddick--but only to spy out whether the wizards are betraying the occupying Tharn to the subjugated Cenzar. Examining prejudice (Dayven's, against wizards) as well as the more nuanced thinking that sometimes replaces it, Bell adds to her oeuvre of canny, politically themed fantasies.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam

(2) YA In this vaguely Persian fantasy--the first in a projected three-book series--honor, treachery, and Bell's signature intrigue involving multilayered political and economic devices mingle with an old prophecy that the legendary warrior Sorahb will return to the mythical land of Farsala in its time of need. The complex, many-stranded sweep of the plot will leave readers anticipating the next book in the series.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2003

(2) 4-6 Makenna, a hedgewitch, is allied with the goblins against human efforts to exterminate them. In a losing war, young Sir Tobin is wrongly arrested for treason; to redeem his name, Tobin agrees to capture or kill the "sorceress" leading the goblins. Makenna and Tobin meet; wits are matched. The addition of political motivations to a genre dominated by a good/evil dichotomy is a pleasing surprise. A rousing fantasy adventure.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003

(2) YA Assigned the task of tracing the origins of a plot on his emperor's life, Ahvren seeks out the help of a bibliogoth, a giant antlike scholar from a conquered race. The mystery moves at a cracking pace, and Bell creates several alien races with unique characteristics and philosophies. This science-fiction/mystery story features winning characterization, suspenseful covert action at the climax, and an intriguing conclusion.

Reviewer: Anita L. Burkam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2002