Voyage to Magical North

By Author / Illustrator

Claire Fayers (Author)

Genre

Adventure

Age range(s)

Publisher

Pan Macmillan

ISBN

9781447290605

Format

Paperback / softback

Published

30-06-2016

Synopsis

Take to the high seas in Voyage to Magical North, a swashbuckling pirate adventure filled with magic by Claire Fayers.

Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past . . . if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she's spent every day since housekeeping for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.

But everything changes when Brine and Peter accidentally break the magician's starshell and need to flee the island. Lost at sea, they blunder into the path of the legendary pirate ship the Onion. Before you can say 'pieces of eight,' they're up to their necks in the pirates' quest to find Magical North, a place so shrouded in secrets and myth that most people don't even think it exists.

If Brine is lucky, she may find out who her parents are and why they sent her out to sea. And if she's unlucky, everyone on the ship will be eaten by sea monsters.

It really could go either way.

Enjoy more fun adventures with The Accidental Pirates in Journey to Dragon Island.

Reviews

Plucked from the sea as a baby, Brine Seaborne doesn't know where she came from or quite where she belongs. She has resigned herself to life as the servant of magician Tallis Magnus on the Minutes islands, even though magic makes her sneeze! Brine's friend, Peter, is the magician's apprentice and keeps it secret that she sneaks into the library to read Aldebran Boswell's Book of Scientific Knowledge. One evening, their lives seem set to change forever so Peter and Brine escape from Minutes straight into the hands of the renowned pirate Cassie O'Pia and the crew of the Onion. Therein ensues an often hair raising adventure to the Magical North, where Boswell's book proves more useful than anyone might have imagined. If you like pirates and magic, you will enjoy this book. It is an extremely fast paced novel with a richly painted plot and characters. Cassie and Brine are both strong female lead characters who demonstrate tenacity, strength and independence - great to see in a book aimed at this age group. The novel is a classic combination of good versus evil and is filled with humour and suspense. It would appeal to boys and girls alike. This book is very well written and there is plenty to explore if used as a focus text as part of a thematic curriculum. As an adult reader, you might spot some subtle references to other books read or TV programmes watched! This is an excellent first novel and I am very much looking forward to finding out what happens to Brine, Cassie and the crew of the Onion in the sequel. 338 pages / Ages 9+ / Reviewed by Mikeala Morgans, teacher.