Arkspire (Arkspire, 1)

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Soon Juni, Cinder and everyone she loves are pulled into an extraordinary world of magic, power and prestige – but also grave danger. It seems the world Juni thought she knew is nothing but a lie – and now only Juniper and Cinder can bring it down. Arkspire is a city obsessed by magic. The five Arcanists – a group of all-powerful magicians – have protected the great city for as long as anyone can remember. Within the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who’d do anything for her family – even her unbelievably annoying sister, Elodie. The heroine, Juniper Bell, is wonderfully feisty and creative and the book is peopled with vivid characters. Arkspire, the city setting for the story, is a richly imagined world, with real social divides and class issues that ring true for the present day. The magic is both scary and fantastic and the reader sees the glamour fall away from Juniper’s eyes and experience her new understanding that the way things are is not necessarily the way they should be. The heroine is flawed, she argues with her sister and does not always do the right thing. She challenges authority and the ‘religion’ of the city and that is why the reader is drawn to her. The love/hate relationship between siblings was well observed. As I make it a point to mention in every Middle Grade review, friendships are the show stoppers of Middle Grade fiction and the friendship between Junie and Thea was something that warmed my heart! The author doesn’t shy away from discussing complicated family dynamics (I am looking at you, Elodie) and that was definitely a plus! Madame Adie and Everard were fun side characters and I would love to discover more about them in the upcoming books! Then one night, something incredible happens. A mysterious stolen relic (nothing to do with Juni, ahem…) explodes, revealing a mysterious creature, Cinder – who appears to ‘bond’ with Juni. The only creatures like that are allegedly dangerous enemies of the Arcanists . . . and it’s not long before they turn their attention to Juni.

Summary: This fantasy world offers riches, and a kind of a lesson about our own circumstances, but the jolly fun is the stand-out reason for buying. This review would be incomplete without highlighting the gorgeous illustrations! What better combination than the author and the illustrator being the same person?! Jamie Littler’s illustrations are one of the best I’ve come across and not only do they add depth to the story, they also function as a catalyst to fuel your imagination of this well-constructed fantasy world! Two sisters, Juniper and Elodie, born fifteen minutes apart, are growing to be chalk and cheese. Juniper is an eager hunter and trader in illicit magic, including relics from prior major wars left out in the Badlands. Elodie is intent on getting closer to power in one of the religious districts of Arkspire, perhaps even to become the child in line to inherit the power of the Watcher, the closest to a ruler the district has, and one of the five major victors in said earlier war. Being trained in the magic that only five people can use would definitely change the status of the whole family. But in finding something oddly magical, Juniper might just be able to gain some power of her own – for good, or for very, very bad… Arkspire is a city obsessed by magic. The five Arcanists - a group of all-powerful magicians - have protected the great city for as long as anyone can remember. Within the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who'd do anything for her family - even her unbelievably annoying sister. Juni and her family live in the area called the Dregs, which is controlled by the Watcher, only no one has seen this person for many years. As time grows near for a potential replacement to be chosen, strange things start happening in the city of Arkspire. Magic seems to be getting free and Juni finds that an artefact that she has ‘liberated’ suddenly explodes and she becomes linked to the creature that is released from its prison. What follows is a desperate attempt to uncover the hidden agendas of the Arcanists, whilst also trying to save Juni’s sister from possibly being chosen as a replacement.

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Within the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who’d do anything for her family – even her unbelievably annoying sister, Elodie. and it's not long before they turn their attention to Juni. Soon Juni, Cinder and everyone she loves are pulled into an extraordinary world of magic, power and prestige - but also grave danger. It seems the world Juni thought she knew is nothing but a lie - and now only Juniper and Cinder can bring it down. Within the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who'd do anything for her family - even her unbelievably annoying sister, Elodie. Then one night, something incredible happens. A mysterious stolen relic (nothing to do with Juni, ahem...) explodes, revealing a mysterious creature, Cinder - who appears to 'bond' with Juni. The story is absolutely captivating and I have already marked my calendar for next July to see where he will take us with the next installment of Arkspire. As a big fan of Jamie Littler’s previous fantasy series ‘Frostheart’, I was very excited to read this new book. Happily, I was not in the least bit disappointed. There is something about the combination of world-building and Jamie Littler’s illustrations that is enormously attractive and compelling.

A mysterious stolen relic (nothing to do with Juni, ahem…) explodes, revealing a mysterious creature, Cinder – who appears to ‘bond’ with Juni.Welcome to the world of Arkspire. Arkspire is a city obsessed by magic. The five Arcanists – a group of all-powerful magicians – have protected the great city for as long as anyone can remember.

Entertaining, brilliant and with just a pinch of darkness, Jamie Littler's new book is a fantastic and magical story. Synopsis Five Nights at Freddy's: Nexie: An AFK Book (Five Nights at Freddy's: Tales from the Pizzaplex #6) gbp pricesWithin the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who’d do anything for her family – even her unbelievably annoying sister, Elodie. Then one night, something incredible happens. A mysterious stolen relic (nothing to do with Juni, ahem…) explodes, revealing a mysterious creature, Cinder – who appears to ‘bond’ with Juni. We are experiencing delays with deliveries to many countries, but in most cases local services have now resumed. For more details, please consult the latest information provided by Royal Mail's International Incident Bulletin. There is a touch of the steampunk about this, giving it something straighter fantasies don't always have. That said there is an ageless magical ability too, controlled by a few for the benefit of the many, and a class system yet to deliver from its lower ranks anyone to be one of the few. Principal, however, in reading this is a boundless energy that makes it seriously worth your attention. A hilarious and astonishingly illustrated new fantasy series, from the bestselling author of Frostheart. Some of that awkwardness is unfortunately a bit too keen to build up in the middle quarter, where the book loses some drive, and introduces a character only worth disliking – happily they aren't nearly as prominent as I feared. This is married to an effort to show the socialist side of this story, the complaint of the heroine Juniper and all those like her, about life in the undercity. Let's just say this carries through into the final third in a way so much better than it might have been done by lesser hands.

As if that wasn't enough to worry about, Juniper also has to face the next deadly Arcanist trial. But the Arcanists haven’t set these trials to prove her worth. They’re just looking for an excuse to kill her.

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Soon Juni, Cinder and everyone she loves are pulled into an extraordinary world of magic, power and prestige - but also grave danger. It seems the world Juni thought she knew is nothing but a lie - and now only Juniper and Cinder can bring it down.