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Skandar soared through the sky ahead of me. On a unicorn. It wasn’t like any unicorn I’d seen before. It was ferocious. It was magical. It was deadly. Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. The mysterious identity of the weaver was one of the only intrigues that kept me reading. However, finding out that it was Skandars mother was a random and unimpressive revelation. Especially, since her name is only mentioned in the finale and there was no possibility of guessing her as a prospect. Also, the element of surprise is removed completely when Mitchell accurately guesses Erika as the weaver. Also, her former positive family life with his sister and dad in the mainland is not entirely explained. Why did she leave Skandar and his family if she was happy at the mainland? And why try to destroy the chase cup instead of making your own race? Would have been better had she bonded to a wild unicorn after her own unicorn was killed. However, it takes over her mind and she transforms into the weaver. Skandar breaks the bond after defeating her and she ends up free. The unicorns began to screech and bellow, the sound deafening. Their riders jumped into their saddles, trying to calm them as they reared and frothed at the mouth, looking more monstrous than Skandar had ever seen them. The storyline becomes lethargic and confusing once Skandar hatches scoundrel, and his training commences. There are no races until close to the finale, no rules being explained about the game for the new riders. And the training sessions mostly all involve Skandar struggling to hide his spirit element. It would have been a lot better had there actually been structured trials and games that had to be carried out that would have tested the cadets as opposed to boring lessons. For example, Skandar and his friends must find their way out of a labyrinth or defeat a mythical monster using their powers to advance.
Skandar watched, mouth open, as New-Age Frost’s hooves touched down in the arena’s sand. Aspen pushed him forward, fierce determination in her eyes as she passed under the finishing arch. This had a bunch of fun tropes like "Protagonist is denied chance to partake in mandatory, nation-wide exam to recruit new unicorn riders because unknown reasons," and "Protagonist is whisked away to the unicorn Island anyway by mysterious shadowy figure who gets apprehended on arrival," and "Protagonist finds out he is the special, secret, forbidden type of unicorn rider and has to hide it or he'll be killed." All these tropes are done pretty well and make you interested and curious in the story and characters. Classic "training to be riders but also having to hide his special magic" trope was also well done and fun to read. The bad guy was spooky, and the wild unicorns fittingly disgusting. Overall, well paced and fun to read. Unicorns don’t belong in fairytales; they belong in nightmares,” writes Steadman as the series opens. The unicorns in her books are “not at all like the unicorns we know in shops, these fluffy unicorns with rainbows, they’re different and exciting and magical but also dangerous,” she says. I’ll always remember,” Dad continued, looking straight at Skandar, “when that first Chaos Cup finished, your mum took your tiny hand, traced a pattern on your palm, and whispered, quiet as a prayer, ‘I promise you a unicorn, little one.’?” Skandar’s sister was leaning on one elbow now, her thin pale face alight with excitement, her hazel hair and eyes wild. Kenna was a year older than Skandar, but they looked so similar that they’d often been mistaken for twins.Fierce flying unicorns help kids form even fiercer friendships in this exciting tale. The novelty of unicorns who like to eat bloody things and belch and fart fire doesn't wear off. Which is good because it's the one element that's truly unique to this series opener. Fantasy fans have seen elemental magic before and are no strangers to magical training schools -- though this one is full of awesome tree houses. They've also seen books where kids bond strongly to animals (the Spirit Animals series, His Dark Materials). Put all that together and add some rampaging wild unicorns, forbidden magic, and a unicorn stealer on the loose, and it feels fresh enough and even rather exciting at times. Get ready for unlikely HEROES, elemental MAGIC, sky battles, ancient secrets, nail-biting races and FEROCIOUS UNICORNS, in this EPIC ADVENTURE series that will have your heart soaring. After King’s, Steadman went to Cambridge University on a choral scholarship. She first studied languages, then law, and met her future husband, Joe, when they were first-year students singing in the same choir. But a couple of years into her training she knew that law was never going to be the calling that made her heart sing. “I thought, now’s the time. I don’t want to spend my whole life regretting not writing, or going into a bookshop and thinking, ‘If only my name was on one of these books.’” So she enrolled on a creative writing course, where she wrote a short story collection and an adult novel about lawyers, which won her an agent but was rejected by 20 publishers. Owen was the worst. Dad thought he was a friend because he’d once seen hundreds of notifications from him on Skandar’s phone. Skandar hadn’t mentioned that the messages were far from friendly.
At nine, she had kidney surgery after developing type 1 diabetes at the age of four. “I was on the operating table for nine hours or something, and I remember thinking, when they put me under the anaesthetic, that I might not wake up.” The experience gave her a useful sense of mortality. “I think it made me someone who knows life is short, so you have to get on with it,” she says. Annabel first began writing the story, which follows a boy called Skandar Smith, named after Annabel's younger brother, in a world of blood thirsty unicorns while working as a lawyer.The fantasy is so rich and baroque, with its elemental battles between young riders who channel fire, water, earth, air and spirit as weapons, that I’d half expected its author to look equally exotic. But there’s not even the teeniest little unicorn tattoo in evidence on the 30-year-old woman who turns up to be interviewed at her publishers’ deserted London HQ, where she has requested we meet because her barrister husband is working in their north London flat, and she didn’t want to interrupt him. I really like the aesthetic look of the book, especially the foiled flames on the hardcover. However, although I found the concept of racing magical unicorns to be a very interesting and creative concept. “Skandar and the unicorn thief” follows a tirelessly generic premise which entails confusing concepts, little action, and boring training sequences. Steadman does a great job of providing details and there is a lot of imaginative ideas utilised such as the bonding ritual and the hatching door. I enjoyed the speedy introduction of the weaver as it injected some early action and interest. However, the idea of a poor, unknown protagonist who later realises they have a special gift which gives them the edge is an overused storyline. I would have much rather preferred that Skandar worked for the talents of his unicorn rather than having been gifted a “spirit element.” Mainlanders believed unicorns were only a myth. But when the Islanders revealed their secret--unicorns are real--Mainlanders learned "unicorns don't belong in fairy tales; they belong in nightmares." The magical creatures of lore are not for the fainthearted in this exhilarating and wildly imaginative middle-grade fantasy debut from A.F. Steadman. Starting from her pseudonym, with initials, like J.K Rowling. BTW, let me remind you why Johann Great Supporter of Women took an initials pseudonym : because she thought boys wouldn't read a book written by a woman. Just like they wouldn't read a book that didn't have a boy hero. So you're getting absolutely the same thing here : an author that could pass for a man, a boy hero for a story that is basically a horse story, a genre that appeals mostly to girls. So they needed to "bring the boy readers".
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