Tag: fantasy fiction

Ransom Riggs’ — Miss Peregrine’s home for peculiar children *****

After Jacob’s grandfather’s mysterious death, he and his father travel to a Welsh island. While exploring the island, Jacob accidently stumbles through time where he discovers the peculiar children his grandfather once told him about though at the time, Jacob never believed his stories. Unlike many other books, when Jacob is confronted with evil he doesn’t rely on violence.

This tale is aimed at YA readers, but I was so enchanted by this adventure, that I had to read the second, then the third. However, by the fourth book, the adventures didn’t draw me in the way the first three in the series had.

This is yet another book made into a movie, where the book outshines the movie.

Sue Lynn Tan’s—Daughter of the Moon Goddess*****

Xingyin lives a contented but isolated childhood with her mother, the Moon Goddess who is forbidden to leave her domain. But after Xingyin experiments with magic lights around her, the Celestial Empress visits accusing her mother of trying to escape from her imprisonment. Fearing her daughter will be discovered, she instructs Xingyin under the protection of Ping’er, to hide in the Southern Sea with Ping’er’s family. During the journey, they are attacked by Celestial soldiers and the pair are separated. Alone, Xingyin must forge a new life in the Celestial Kingdom in the hope that she can free her mother from the chains of her isolation.

Nnedi Okorofor’s — Who fears death *****

Set in Africa, this futuristic fantasy focuses on the life of Onyesonwu. After her mother is raped, Onyesonwu’s mother escapes to the east away from the genocide of the Nuru tribe against the Okeke. In Jwahir, Onyesonwu is born but she is of mixed blood and the Okeke avoid her. But something is changing. Strange powers begin to develop — her singing attracts owls, she can change into a vulture and soar above the landscape. She goes to the town’s sorcerer and begs him to train her, but he turns her away because she’s a girl. Her destiny is written in the Great Book, but how will she accomplish these tasks to stop the bloodshed happening in the west that will eventually catch up with the Okeke living in the east?

Anna Smaill’s — The chimes

Simon arrives in London after his parents’ deaths and soon finds a new family amongst a gang of scavengers who roam their turf in search of metal. He grips his bag of junk — items that trigger the only memories he holds and slowly discovers with the help of Lucien, that he has a gift that others do not hold. But the London of the future keeps most of its citizens ignorant. Can Simon’s gift free them from their simple lives?

A real page turner that was not only well written, but revealed a unique story.