This is the first title in the Kingdom of the Lost series, a delightful fantasy series written for younger readers.
Two brothers live in the middle of a vast bare plain in their simple stone cottage, with gardens and household items crafted with their own hands. In autumn every year the elder brother Zluty travels to the northern forests to gather supplies of mushrooms, tree sap and honey that the two will need to endure the long hard winter on the plain. The younger brother Bily meanwhile nervously waits at home for his brother to return. But this trip a devastating Red Wind sweeps across the land being with it much destruction and torment, destroying everything in its path, including the brother's cottage on the plains. Bily survives by hiding with his animal friends in the cellar, along with a terrifying monster, while Zluty endures the torrential rain and fights to survive! United the two, with their cottage destroyed and little to no food for them to survive the coming winter, must decide what to do.
Cooper Jones has never known his dad. He lives with his mum (who is mad keen on joining the Women's circus aerial troupe (no matter how embarrassing that is to Cooper) in a small coastal town near the bush close to the beach (and the surf which he wont swim in). and things are changing. He constantly thinks of the father he has never known, he even starts searching the internet for his father, and now things seem different between him and his mother ... especially now that he's taller then her. Life is getting complicated and is no longer simple. Then Abeba arrives, his neighbour's niece and soon Cooper realises that he is not the only one whose life is getting complicated as Abeba has problems of her own with her mother about her heritage. And when the bushfire approaches and Abeba is bitten by a snake, it is Cooper who has to realise that when life is spinning out of control, sometimes you just need to get a grip.
A wonderful story of families and relationships and growing up!
This is the companion book to the earlier novel, The Starthorn Tree, but it most definitely can be read as a standalone novel. The characters are wonderful created in this fantasy world.
Three children who are time-honoured enemies, Merry (a heathkin boy and son of a rebel), Zedrin (a starkin lord and heir) and Liliana (a wildkin girl developing uncanny magical powers) are on a perilous quest to the palace of Zarissa to rescue the wildkin Princess Rozalina (who is also muzzled for she has the power to enchant with her words) from her lifelong imprisonment in a tower in a palace built of glass. But to do so the three must work together and endure family treachery, discover their real heritage and their destinies become clear.
What a wonderful environmental tale is this novel.
The once modern and grand city of Grimsdon is in ruins much of it submerged having been devastated by a massive flood that broke the barriers. Most survivors have left, while a few remain behind surviving on whatever they can scrounge from the remains, including the children Isabella and Griffin and the three other smaller children they care for. they live in the remains of an opulent mansion and into this world enters Another child, Xavier who has an Aerotrope, a flying bicycle, that can take the children even further into the ruins in search of what they require. But Xavier, should he join the gang, endanger all their lives with his risks - and his past.
As well there are also bounty hunters and pirates, sneaker waves that could cause more damage, as well as something that lies deep beneath the waters.
These are terrific reads.
