THE EMERALD ATLAS

Magical adventure tale for young teens. (Review by Penny van der Merwe)

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens is the first book of the trilogy series The Books of Beginning and it follows in the genre of CS Lewis, JK Rowling and Phillip Pullman with a touch of JJ Tolkien.

John Stephens' aptly-titled new fantasy trilogy begins with a tale of three siblings - Kate, Michael, and Emma - who have suffered through ten years of odious orphanage "care". They slip into the care of the eccentric, disturbingly mysterious Dr. Pym and, while exploring their new home, they discover a magical green book. With that discovery, a decade of tedium dissolves into cascades of dangerous time travel adventures and struggles with a beautiful witch and decidedly-less attractive Screechers.

The youngsters each go through their own trials and tribulations and it is pleasing to see the depth of growth in their personalities. The story is very visual in nature and the seasoned reader will be able to identify characters in the story that are based on well-known literary characters.

The book took a long time to get into, but it is understandable as the author is setting a scene for the future books and laying the foundations for the adventures to come. The story can be quite dark and ominous at times and has very vivid battle scenes. It will be interesting to see how the next two books pan out now the bones of the story have been set.

The Emerald Atlas is published by Random House Children’s Books. It is definitely worth a read and will be enjoyed by magic loving adults and children. You will enjoy being enveloped in a world of time travel, enchantment, dwarves, wizards, witches and feisty children and a brave fearless warrior. ISBN 978-08575030196. Recommended selling price R195. – Penny van der Merwe