A few years ago I started to keep a gratitude journal, in which each night I record three things for which I am grateful before I go to bed. This has not always been easy – on the day that I bought my first notebook in which to record my thoughts, I reversed my car into a bin and put a huge dent in it and there have been numerous other occasions when it has been hard to find things to include that I am genuinely appreciative of and am not just including to make up the numbers. Occasionally though, when I reflect on what my day has been like, it is easy to choose the things that have made me the most grateful and so it was when my lovely postie delivered this on Easter Saturday.
I have long been a fan of Vashti Hardy’s writing since reading the outstanding Wildspark a few years ago and the prospect of reading this, the latest in the Brightstorm Chronicles series filled my heart with joy. While most of the country moaned about the rain the following day, I took it as a sign that I should forget my obsession with my daily 10,000 steps for once and allowed myself the rare pleasure of sitting on the sofa with the sole intention of reading. With a few interruptions along the way, I soon found myself engrossed, as I knew I would be, in a wonderfully imagined story – one packed with intrigue and peril and one that I cannot wait for everyone else to read so that I have someone with whom to discuss it because it is utterly brilliant.
Our story proper starts at some ancient docks, where a boy – Thorn – is trying his best to stowaway on a boat to Nadvaaryn, having left his home town of Lontown which holds little appeal for him now. Bumping into a girl who is also trying to escape, he reflects on the possibility of a travelling companion before he is distracted by the conversation between two wealthy women discussing their obviously secret mission. All thoughts of the duo are put aside however when the girl appears to suddenly vanish and a panicked Thorn dashes towards the closest boat to avoid the same fate happening to him.
In Nadvaaryn itself though, the Princess Ganzorig (Gan) is behaving in the most unprincess-like fashion, clambering over the rooftops for the sheer thrill that being chased brings her. When her pursuer, head guard Zayaa, catches up with her she tells her that she has been trying to do her duty but needs excitement after travelling with legendary sky-ship captain Harriet Culpepper and is determined one day to take her own vessel to search for the mythical Serpent of the Sands, the guardian of a magical garden of healing plants. Zayaa tells Gan to put all thoughts of this aside though as she has been urgently summoned by her uncle, King Batzorig.
Returning to the palace, Batzorig shares the news with Gan that his husband, King Temur, is gravely ill and the desperately worried princess immediately visits him and is shocked at his appearance. When it becomes clear that his condition is deteriorating despite the attention of the finest physicians, Gan sets out to try to track down the Serpent of the Sands in the hopes of finding the garden that it guards and obtaining the cure that Temur so obviously needs. Sneaking out of the city, Gan heads towards her sky-ship but finds herself in trouble before she can reach it and is helped by stranger Thorn. Inviting him to join her, Gan sets out to track down the mythical creature but with no idea as to where to look, or even if the serpent is real, where should she start? As her travels take her further and further from home, Gan finds herself in more and more danger and learns that not everything is as it should be in Nadvaaryn…
Anyone who has read the series up until now will have already met Gan in Book 3, Firesong, and will have come to know her as a brave and highly intelligent character, with a thirst for adventure – a thirst that is somewhat at odds with her destiny as heir to the throne of Nadvaaryn and all that that entails. Here, she really comes into her own as she tries to break free of the constraints of her royal duties to live the life of her own choosing, sending a very powerful message to all readers but especially to girls that they too can be bold and achieve in fields traditionally seen as being for boys and men.
For anyone who has not read the original trilogy, it really does not matter. This works perfectly well as a standalone story with everything the reader needs to know skilfully woven through the book and an almost entirely new cast of characters in a new range of settings to captivate them. For those who have read the original stories, the change in tone seen in Firesong continues here as not only are the sapient creatures who have been increasingly under threat up to this point targeted more forcefully by those who would use them for their own nefarious ends but it is starting to become clear that their abuse is just a small part of a much bigger, much darker plan.
Whatever point you are at in your Brightstorm journey, I urge you to get hold of a copy of this title. Perfect as a shared class read in Years 5 or 6, confident readers in Year 4 upwards will absolutely adore it and with the ending written in such a way that it is clear that there is much more of Gan’s story to tell, I for one am hoping that there will not be too long a wait until a Book 5 is announced.
As always, my enormous thanks go to publisher Scholastic for my gifted review copy. Serpent of the Sands publishes on May 11th.
Mrs Sydney's Famous World's Smallest Library 