Book review: Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies (The Guardians #3) by William Joyce

When last we heard, the guardians were resting easy with the knowledge that the children of Santoff Claussen were finally safe from Pitch's dastardly plans.

But is it all a ruse, a scheme, a lull the evil Nightmare King has deviously concocted?  Whatever Pitch's plans, what he doesn't know is that there's a new Guardian in town, and she's not the type to forget old grudges.  Actually, she's not the type to forget anything, because this Guardian is none other than Toothiana, the Tooth Fairy herself.  She's fierce and fast, and crossing her will lead to a multitude of troubles.  And it turns out that, well, all those teeth she has been collecting?  They contain memories: the forgotten memories of childhood.  Young Katherine hopes that these memories might help her to remember her parents.  The Guardians hope they'll offer even further protection from Ptich.

You can see how this information would be invaluable to our heroes.

But it could also be invaluable to Pitch...

The third book in the Guardians series introduces us to Toothiana, as shown in the title and description.  She’s the tooth fairy, essentially, and like with all the mythical figures before her, she comes from an interesting background, one you wouldn’t really think of when asked about the Tooth Fairy.  That’s one of the advantages of this series; it’s creative, not dumbed-down just because it’s aimed at pre-teens.

Toothiana, Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies follows the same fairytale-like storytelling as its predecessors, but the tone of it is darker, getting progressively so as you get through the book.  Especially in the end, in fact, though I won’t give those details of course.  Toothiana’s backstory is quite sad, and when she goes in to get Katherine’s tooth and the Monkey King attacks, she goes crazy.  There’s a bit of talk about death, mostly aimed at the Monkey King and Pitch, whom is, of course, still alive.  There’s nothing wrong with that, though, and I think the lesson in the end is one that can be applied to anyone, not just children.

However, the end is a cliffhanger. A very frustrating cliffhanger, in a way.  However, I have read much, much worse.  It still works as an end for the book, and doesn’t leave you wondering “Wait, where’s the rest?” as other series books I’ve read have unfortunately done.  Meanwhile, however, the fourth book, The Sandman and the War of Dreams, doesn’t come out until September.  But it’ll be worth the wait!  And for those who were fans of Rise of the Guardians, the back teaser informs us that “a wayward lad of considerable interest named Jackson Overland Frost” shows up!  I personally look forward to it.