Middle Grade Sidekick Short Review: Vanya and the Wild Hunt (2025) by Sangu Mandanna

cover image of Vanya and the Wild Hunt by Sangu Mandanna, published by Roaring Book Press, 2025.

The Basics

Page Length: 288

Audiobook Length: ~7 hours

Grade Reading Level: 3+

Target Audience Age: 8-14

Goodreads Score: 4.23 out of 5

Buy it HERE

Setting: Contemporary England-- Auramere (a hidden magical school)

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy

Topics: Books, Magic, Monsters, Neurodivergence, Myths/Folklore, Friendship, Family Dynamics

Plot: Vanya has always been different. Her ADHD often makes her feel like an outcast at school—her teachers don’t understand her, and she doesn’t have any real friends. Well… except for the books in the back of her parents’ bookshop that speak to her.

After Vanya stumbles into a monster attacking the shop, the talking books suddenly make sense—they’re magical. She learns that her parents are magical too, powerful archwitches and archivists. Even though her mother isn’t thrilled about it, Vanya is taken to Auramere, a hidden school for families with magic like hers.

At Auramere, Vanya studies legends and myths about magical creatures—through talking books, of course. She even encounters a few monsters locked away in Auramere’s magical prison. But one creature has everyone whispering: the Wild Hunt. It’s one of the oldest monsters in the world, controlled by a rider who is magically bound to it—and that rider is the true danger. Whoever kills the current rider becomes the Wild Hunt’s next master.

So who IS the Wild Hunt’s new master? And can Vanya uncover the truth in time to protect her new friends in this strange and extraordinary world?

Themes: Finding identity in a community, self-acceptance, the power of books and storytelling, neurodivergence as a source of strength, courage

You might like this book if you like:

• reading or wandering the shelves of bookstores/libraries

• learning about myths/local legends

• Books like: Amari and the Night Brothers, Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Skander and the Unicorn Thief, A Kind of Spark, Tilly and The Bookwanderers

• Shows like: Just Beyond, Wolfboy and the Everything Factory, A Kind of Spark, Kip on the Age of Wonderbeasts

• Movies like: Inkheart, Missing Link, A Wrinkle in Time, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (a lot of these are also books)

Other books written by this author: A Spark of White Fire (The Celestial Tirlogy, #1), Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom (Kiki Kallira, #1), Jupiter Nettle and the Seven Schools of Magic, The Lost Girl

Content

• Language: None

• Sex/Romance: None

• Violence/Scariness: There's some monster fighting and a few battle scenes, some blood and injury. Nothing very graphic

• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: None

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read pages 1- mid page 6 through the phrase: "you know what she's like."

If you don't, read the same pages in the Kindle reading sample here.