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Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite
The Society of Imaginary Friends by Kristen Pham is the first book in the Conjurer series. Valerie knows how to go unnoticed as she's bounced between various foster homes and the streets. She loses her current foster home after a visit from Sanguina, a woman no one else can see, who's determined to destroy Valerie's life. When she ends up in the hospital, she receives a visit from her imaginary friend Cyrus, whom she thought disappeared a long time ago. Cyrus gives her a chance to embark on a new life by sending her a guide to lead her to a magical world. With her new friends, Valerie explores her own hidden powers and a magic filled world as a shocking discovery reveals itself and puts her on a path to her destiny.
Kristen Pham balances the two worlds that Valerie weaves between. One is gritty and modern, and the other is filled with magic and wonder, but both have danger lurking in the background that threatens to destroy everything Valerie holds dear. The characters are an interesting array of personalities and abilities, including Valerie's three closest friends: Cyrus who can take light and create an object from it; Kanti who is from a family of people with powerful abilities but has no magic of her own; and Thai who is slowly splitting into two to create a separate other personality called Tan. Each of her friends has a specific place in the story and how Valerie's journey evolves. They're her confidants and guides through this world of magic, but they're also where her heart is and what gives her strength.
This other world is filled with imaginary friends and people with extraordinary abilities, but it's not the power Valerie finds there that's the true magic. It's the home she creates with the friends she makes, who give her a real home. Her new life is a complete contrast to the gritty life she was living beforehand as she finds a sense of wonder and happiness, which gives her a chance to discover who she really is and what purpose she plays in the larger scheme of this world. Pham displays a clever humor with subtle eccentricities woven into a world which includes talking animals and a unicorn president. The Society of Imaginary Friends is a gritty tale of bravery and friendship, about the search for home and the magic found along the way.
