Get Lost in The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding

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Thanks to Disney-Hyperion for sending me a copy of The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken, and for providing a prize pack! All opinions are, of course, my own.

I’ve always felt that magical reads were best enjoyed during the fall, and not just because of Halloween. The atmosphere just feels spookier, the air tingles with mystery and mystique. Maybe it has something to do with nature’s transition from lush and lively to cold and desolate. Autumn is a “tween” place, and I don’t mean the middle-grader kind. If you’ve read as many fairy tales as I have, you know that the in-betweens are places of great power and magic. Midnight, crossroads, transition seasons, and yes, adolescence: all transition times, moments when what was and is intersects with what could be.

In the new middle-grade fiction novel (and short series) by Alexandra Bracken, young Prosper Redding of Redhood Massachusetts finds himself faced with a major transition. Think adolescent in the crossroads at midnight during fall! Not literally, but boy, Prosper has some major demons to face. That, I mean literally! The book is full of autumn atmosphere, making it the perfect read for ages 9 and up this Halloween season.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding

“I would say it’s a pleasure to meet thee, Prosperity Oceanus Redding, but truly, I only anticipate the delights of destroying thy happiness….”

Like the town of Redhood, there’s nothing particular outstanding or unusual about Prosper Redding. While the rest of his family is full of mayors, CEOs, and 5-star generals, Prosper himself is pretty much just an average kid. That is, of course, until he finds out there’s a demon living inside of him! See, told you I was being literal when I saw he had to face his demons! Check out this super cute book trailer, then I’ll tell you more about it.

Read the first two chapters on Disney.com!

About the Book

Prosper is the only unexceptional Redding in his old and storied family history—that is, until he discovers the demon living inside him. Turns out Prosper’s great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made—and then broke—a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, eight-hundred-year-old Alastor isn’t exactly the forgiving type. The fiend has reawakened with one purpose–to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts to trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his afterlife without a side of eternal servitude, thanks. But with the help of his long-lost uncle, Barnabas, and his daughter, Nell, a witch-in-training, it seems like Prosper has at least a fighting chance of ridding himself of Alastor before the demon escapes and wreaks havoc on his family. Little does Prosper know, the malefactor’s control over his body grows stronger with each passing night and there’s a lot Alastor isn’t telling his dim-witted (but admittedly strong-willed) human host… From #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexandra Bracken comes a tale of betrayal and revenge, of old hurts passed down from generation to generation. Can you ever fully right a wrong, ever truly escape your history? Or will Prosper and Alastor be doomed to repeat it?

Since my son is in cyber school this year, he has to read more independent selections than usual. Prosper Redding is the perfect book for him. It’s spooky, but not outright scary. At 12, he’s not quite ready for horror, even though he tries to convince me otherwise. I know my kid, he won’t sleep for a month if he watches or reads something too scary! If you read Alexandra Bracken’s Passenger series, you know she does a fabulous job creating atmosphere. As much as I liked her YA books, I feel like she really found her groove with middle grade fiction. Even though the target age group for the genre is separated by just a few years, with middle grade books you can really unleash your creativity and stretch the boundaries of the imagination, which she definitely does in a totally fun way. Yet, at the same time, Prosper Redding faces many of the same issues that tweens in the non-magical world deal with, making him a relatable character.

The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding is available now at your favorite bookstore, including Amazon.

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About the Author

Alexandra Bracken is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Darkest Minds series. Born and raised in Arizona, she moved East to study history and English at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. After working in publishing for several years, Alex now writes full-time and can be found hard at work on her next novel in a charming little apartment that’s