Mock Printz 2026 discussion

For the past few years, realistic fiction has dominated the Printz list. Can this fantasy novel inspired by the Seven Samurai break through this year?

This is not it. The characters and voices are too muddy for the first half, it isn’t til folks begin being picked off that I could properly keep track of everyone. I like the inspiration and source material, but the work build is incomplete, the pacing is terribly sluggish at the beginning, and I don’t think the author propped fleshes out such a large group of characters.