The Secret of the Moonshard

By Author / Illustrator

Struan Murray, Vivienne To

Genre

Fantasy

Age range(s)

Publisher

Penguin Random House Children's UK

ISBN

9780241535585

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

29-02-2024

Synopsis

The thrilling new magical adventure from Branford Boase winner Struan Murray. Domino has lived her whole life believing that just one drop of magic could kill her. Held in a floating laboratory by scheming Science Barons, she has never known a single day of freedom.

When Domino discovers that everything she's been told by the Barons is a lie, she escapes to Abzalaymon, a wondrous city filled with scientific marvels, hulking thunder lizards and hidden magic. But the Barons are soon on Domino's trail. Because a war is brewing between science and magic. A war that could destroy the world. And Domino might just be the key to saving everyone . . .

'Sensational storytelling' - AF Steadman, author of Skandar and the Unicorn Thief. 'This is a perfect fantasy adventure' - Katya Balen, author of October, October.

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Reviews

Orphan Domino lives with the Science Barons in the Scientarium Celestis, a floating laboratory. Allergic to magic, she is forced to stay here, tormented by the other children; a complex problem for the Barons to solve. However, when a Science Baron returns and requests Domino as his assistant, she discovers that everything she has been told is a lie and escapes to Abzalaymon, a city full of wonders. Pursued by the Barons, Domino discovers magic, secrets and a sinister plot.

The Secret of the Moonshard is a breathtakingly good fantasy which no attempt at a summary can possibly do justice to! Domino's world is so vividly created with such attention to detail and imagination that the reader is immediately captivated and drawn deeply into this compelling adventure. Domino is a fabulous heroine. Feisty and impetuous, she is trapped in the Scientarium from where she can see the city beneath which she longs to visit. Constantly bullied and despised by the other children and described as 'an intolerable nuisance' by the Science Barons, she strikes back by devising pranks to gain revenge, allowing her to feel some small measure of control. Domino is just one of the many memorable characters who come to life in these pages.

Should you read this one? Absolutely!

480 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher