The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross

This book is brilliant. I recommend it to anyone looking for a thriller to take them into another world of magic. When I started ‘The Queen’s Rising’ I knew straight away that I wouldn’t be able to put it down. The plot is not just intriguing but also enjoyable.

The book is about a girl of 17 called Brienna approaching her last summer solstice at Magnolia House, Valenia. In Valenia, the education system is of patronship. There are five passions - knowledge, wit, music, art and dramatics - and you can be trained in any one of the passions. Magnolia House runs a seven year program, allowing girls to embrace any one of the five passions during their time.

However Brienna has a difficult past that she must accept; Valenia’s enemy is Maevena and Brienna holds a dual citizenship. To make it all worse, Brienna doesn’t have an obvious passion like most people, so after attempting one passion for each of her first five years, she settles with knowledge. At the summer solstice though, Brienna isn’t chosen by any of the patrons and is forced to stay on at Magnolia.

Eventually the Dowager finds Brienna a patron, but he is an undercover Lord of Maevena - which is split into 14 pieces. But he is also one of three lords that rebelled 25 years ago…

The book draws you in and I’m sure I could rave about it for hours but you won’t like that - because I think you have some serious reading to do! I can’t wait for ‘The Queen’s Resistance’!

FictionFan1 Rating: 10/10

If you liked this author you might like: J.K Rowling, SharonCreech

About the author: Rebecca Ross grew up in Georgia, USA where she still lives with her husband. She has had many jobs including a school librarian but ‘The Queen’s Rising’ was her debut novel which she published recently in 2018.

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Coming up soon: Stay tuned for my next reviews.

The 1000 year-old Boy by Ross Welford

Wow. Wow in capital letters. WOW WOW WOW WOW! There is no other way to describe this book. I want to congratulate Ross Welford on this amazing novel. Let me start this review with a bit of information about my connection to Ross Welford.

I was gifted a copy of ‘Time Travelling with a Hamster’ a few years ago and devoured it. About a year later, Ross Welford visited my school, and gave an interesting talk which I clearly remember featuring a write-a-story-in-less-than-5-minutes-without-pen-and-paper. During this visit, my family purchased a copy of his newest and second book ‘What Not to do if you Turn Invisible.’

This book came out today (thank you to my secret friend for the copy!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the tale of a young boy called Alfie Monk who remembers the last Viking invasion of Britain. He discovers there is more to life than age, and sets about trying to find the last life-pearl, the only way to reverse the Neverdead curse.

Along the way, Alfie learns what friends really are, and encounters somebody he recognises…but when his house in the forest where he lives with his Mam, burns down, he has nowhere left to go, but a children’s home. Mam may have perished in the fire, but Alfie’s spirit did not, and his ever-empowering spiritual journey is a real heart-string puller.

This is an original story full of wit and brains, but also a hint of history, as we learn about Alfie’s Neverdead life. Full of interesting characters, this book is one that certainly exceeded my expectations. The blurb fits the book, and the characters fit the story. Wow, Wow and Wow again!

FictionFan1 Rating: 9.5/10

If you liked this author you might like: Rebbeca Stead, Simon Mayo

About the author: Ross Welford used to be a journalist and television producer, but then became a full-time writer in order to pursue his dream. Ross visits schools and knows many book-themed magic tricks, and in his spare time, like me, he writes a blog!

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Coming up soon: Stay tuned for next review of A Message to the Sea by Alex Shearer