Christopher Mackie - CLOUDLANDERS - Book Review - Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books

 

Hello everybody. We hope you are ready for summer and are looking forward to some great new children's adventure stories. The first book we recommend is the debut book by author Christopher Mackie. This story was written in lockdown and shares the feeling at this time in an ingenious plot. The book will be published on the 17th of August 2023 with Scottish indie publisher Floris Books. I would also like to name-check the fabulous illustrator of the book cover who is Vietnamese-born illustrator Houang Giang. She has done a fabulous job of representing the characters of the book and the story. 

How do you save an unusual island floating in the sky?  Like this brilliant story, you need a bucket full of imagination and some help from great characters who come together to save the last county on EARTH. Bastion is the last island and is in need of saving from deadly enemies the WAVEWRECKER and the tricksy little TIDEKIN. The author introduces us to a wonderful pallet of great characters and an amazing setting to produce an adventure like no other. The characters in this book are cleverly crafted and made out of pure fantasy dreaming. There’s Lycan a shapeshifter, Flicker a gemstone faerie, One-zero the outsider, Kurt the Shroomling and finally Aliana & Garrett the wood nymph twins. They all have the potential to be heroes of this story providing they can work together to bring a happy and peaceful ending. However, other characters might just have other ideas!

Each character has a fantastic role to play in this fast-paced, rollercoaster dystopian read that will be a brilliant and memorable hit. You will skip through danger whilst also understanding the meaning of friendship and hope in a nostalgic way.  I wish more stories would embrace this concept. For me, reading for pleasure should be exciting and so different from our very own lives. It’s a chance to be transported from your armchair to a magical and amazing place - just like this one REALLY does.  

If you are ready for a madcap adventure that is thrilling and gloriously different then it’s time to wave your TENTACLES in the air. Join the brave gang of misfits in mayhem and madness as part of a thrilling and unpredictable new fantasy world just above the CLOUDS. I think we can look forward to the next instalment as there will be another book I feel sure.