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The Hidden Realms of Firestone by Linda David

Posted by tjhapney on August 22, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Fantasy, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FirestoneDescription:

She may not have the sweetest of natures, being spoilt, temperamental and often downright moody, but what twelve-year-old Agathea Fulstropp (Thea to her friends), does have is a rather unusual secret – a secret shared only by herself and her grandfather.
She is Earth’s first and only pupil to be enrolled at the Firestone Academy on the faraway Planet of Aruuliah!
Preparing for a new term, packed with the excitement of making new friends, confronting old enemies and getting to grips with alien technologies, Thea is soon to discover that being from Earth has its drawbacks as she becomes the target of a sinister plot to remove her from the Academy – permanently!
Help, however, comes from the most unlikely of places and she, unwittingly encounters a hidden realm concealed within the grounds of the Academy – a world made up of pure energy, populated with mythical creatures of legend and folklore, and whose existence remains a closely guarded secret from all physical beings, whether human or alien.
Time is running out though, as Thea, along with her best friends Jojan and Annalije, desperately try to figure out who, amongst her peers, hates her enough to wish her gone.
Can they solve the mystery before it’s too late, or will Thea, having faced mortal danger once already the previous summer, be lucky enough to escape, unscathed a second time?

Review: 3 of 5 Stars

Aside from Harry Potter I haven’t read much young adult fiction for quite some time (let’s just leave it at that and not count the years). However, I was provided a copy of this story and it was written well enough that I decided to go ahead and review it.

The Hidden Realms of Firestone was an enjoyable story. The start of the book was a little too reminiscent of Harry Potter when the author was describing how the school’s various houses were set up, but once it got going it was very much a story of its own. Sometimes Thea is a bit spoiled and temperamental, but she’s also an 11-year-old girl who goes to school in outer space so there seems to be a lot going on in her life.

I very much enjoyed the creatures in the book, such as the gruzzlings, wood nymphs and Sam (I can’t remember the species name of this small character in the book). Thea spends a good bit of her time in this book trying to avoid being kidnapped and trying to solve the mystery of who is out to get her. Accompanied by her stalwart friend Jojan and roommate Annalije, Thea gets into quite a few predicaments. There is a good amount of action towards the end of the book and the book was a standalone story despite there being a previous book before this one, which I did not read. Nevertheless, I had no problem following the characters and other the author did a good job of making sure that the important elements of the previous story were clear enough that it wasn’t necessary to read the first book to keep from feeling lost.

Thea seems to need to work on her temper somewhat as it leads her into things headlong, but overall the story was pretty well-written and I enjoyed it so it gets 3 out of 5 stars. I’m always confused when people get upset with a 3-star rating and I hope this won’t be the case with this book. I enjoyed it as an adult and imagine that if I were a young girl I might have even enjoyed it a bit more. This is a well-crafted story that I would not be adverse to having a child read and I think a younger person could easily get caught up in the idea of school on planet Aruuliah.

If there’s a young person in your life who enjoys science fiction/fantasy stories this might be right up their alley.