Good writing by Greg Bear.👍
This book gave me strong treasure Island vibes.We go through a colourful journey with our main character as we follow his adventure.
Though it is hard to keep up with the characters,I think middle grade students and teens will end up enjoying this book.It also has a lot of twists and turns so close attention to the plotline is required.
3.9/5 stars

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Netgalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!🙂

This book is really different from anything Iv'e read in a long time! It's full of interesting and well thought out characters!! I did get quite a strong Treasure Island feel from it but there were also a lot of mythical elements which makes it the perfect read for fans of lord of the rings and The Hobbit.


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The book follows a young boy, Reynard on a long and dangerous journey after he becomes the sole survivor on a ship that has been taken down by the Spanish! Along the way Reynard meets a host of colourful characters who turn him from a scared young boy, to an adventure driven young man!! The plot is full of twists and turns that you never know what is going to happen next!

It does require a level of concentration to keep track of all the characters you meet along the way but it is so worth it! I found it the perfect read to curl up with to be transported to new and amazing places!!

This was a strange, lovely little book, much of which absolutely went over my head. It was a strange combination of many different things, reminding me atmospherically of Shakespeare's Tempest and occasionally Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

The story follows a young boy named Reynard from Elizabethan era England who is rescued by a Spanish sailor, and taken to a strange and magical island that seems to defy the imagination. The story plays out as a tragedy in slow motion -- not a sudden, wrenching epic but a meandering and thoughtful decay, as a world of magic and mystery gives way to the pressures of science, technology, and warfare.

My main issues with the book were that the storytelling was frustratingly vague. Things were not described in particular detail, and major aspects of the story (such as the Crafters) were not explained in depth until nearly two-thirds of the way through the book. I felt lost a good amount of the time. There were certain sections that visually captivated me -- the King of Troy's candles burning low, the descriptions of the krater cities--but these moments felt far and few between. This was a difficult book to rate--it lands on atmosphere, but falls short on coherence and cohesion. It doesn't help that a lot of the dialogue is written in antiquated, Shakespearean English and can be difficult to parse.

This book was not for me. I could tell that the author had some fantastic ideas. However, the storytelling was not done well. I found myself confused and frustrated trying to understand what was happening and why. Character motivations weren't explained and there seemed to be little plot. The dialog and narration were inconsistent and it felt very jarring to read. 2 stars because it had great potential.

Although I am not a great fan of Fantasy, I can see that this is an excellent book. It is set in Elizabethan times and has all the tropes of a historical novel. Our hero, the boy Reynard, is marooned in his uncle's fishing boat, captured by a Spanish galleon, and ultimately shipwrecked on a magical island.

It is full of magical creatures - eaters of time, giant lobsters which crawl on deck, nymphs which rise from the sea and hang from trees.

The characters are well written and well rounded.

Keywords: Fantasy, Historical, Magic, Exciting.

This book is well written and I would recommend it to anyone who loves Fantasy.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.