Khali and the Orb of Xona - Mark Stibbe & Steve Brazier

On a faraway planet called Kel, twelve-year old Khali has just seen his dad disappear on a mission to investigate an energy source called the Arokah. Drawn by a strange light from a cave, his dad runs out of oxygen there and is left for dead. All Khali has left in the world is the birthday gift his dad gave him – a stone tablet with a puzzle on it. Now an orphan, he is sent away to board at a school called the Beacon, where there are many other children like him with special needs. Khali now longs to solve the puzzle on the tablet and return to Kel to look for his father. 

 

With the help of some unusual friends and aliens, Khali solves the enigma and embarks on a covert mission to the sister planet Oxona, drawn by the light of the orb that had mesmerised his dad. However, Khali and his friends live in a world where nothing is as it seems, and they are not alone. There are others who have become aware of the special powers conferred on him by the Arokah. They crave its life-enhancing and healing energy and they are watching the boy, following his every move. Will Khali find the orb before his enemies? And what will he find of his dad in the cave?

I’ve always enjoyed a good fantasy novel, and I like a mystery even more so the opening line of Khali and the Orb of Xona hooked me in right away!  ‘My father disappeared just after my twelfth birthday, while the two of us were visiting our sister planet Xona.’  

This is the latest novel from Mark Stibbe, and this time he’s writing for younger readers.  Xona is aimed at pre-teens upwards.  

 

The story rolls along energetically.  Khali, the 12-year-old ‘hero’ of the story lives on a future world with his scientist father after the death of his mother to a cancer-like illness.  Khali has ‘Rhuba’, a type of autism, but happily his home world is very Rhuba-inclusive.  

 

After being given a mysterious puzzle for his twelfth birthday, Khali’s dad sneaks him on board his Space Ranger and takes him to Xona, a nearby planet whose protective membrane has been breached by a volcanic eruption on the surface.  But what starts out as an exciting trip with his Dad on a research trip will have dramatic consequences both for himself and his father, and the future of his own world.

 

This is a really engaging read and it’s very cleverly written from Khali’s perspective as an autistic child.  I love the numbers, patterns – especially hexagons, and the details of how his view on his world works.  The descriptions of his developing friendships with others in ‘Class 24’, particularly talented pilot Meena who risks her entire future to do what she believes is right, and Loois – otherwise known as Thunder Butt for reasons which will make many a pre-teen reader snigger – are well written and believable, staying true to his autistic tendencies in terms of how he relates to people.  This novel has been highly praised by many with much more qualification to comment on autistic issues than I. There are many other areas this novel touches on: loss, inner strength, hard decisions, environmental issues, and trust.  But they are all wrapped up in what is first and foremost a rattling good yarn which is perfectly suited to the target age group – and plenty like me who are just a few years older!  I’m looking forward to the next in the series already.

 

9781912863457, Malcolm Down Publishing, Published April 2020 (UK).

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.

If I Were You - Lynn Austin

1950. In the wake of the war, Audrey Clarkson leaves her manor house in England for a fresh start in America with her young son. As a widowed war bride, Audrey needs the support of her American in-laws, whom she has never met. But she arrives to find that her longtime friend Eve Dawson has been impersonating her for the past four years. Unraveling this deception will force Audrey and Eve’s secrets—and the complicated history of their friendship—to the surface.

1940. Eve and Audrey have been as different as two friends can be since the day they met at Wellingford Hall, where Eve’s mother served as a lady’s maid for Audrey’s mother. As young women, those differences become a polarizing force . . . until a greater threat—Nazi invasion—reunites them. With London facing relentless bombardment, Audrey and Eve join the fight as ambulance drivers, battling constant danger together. An American stationed in England brings dreams of a brighter future for Audrey, and the collapse of the class system gives Eve hope for a future with Audrey’s brother. But in the wake of devastating loss, both women must make life-altering decisions that will set in motion a web of lies and push them both to the breaking point long after the last bomb has fallen.

* * * * *

 

If I Were You is another book dealing with complicated relationships. It’s a fantastic read and this period is perennially popular.  The story begins with Audrey, a widowed young mother, arriving in America in 1950 to meet her GI husband’s family.  But she is stunned to find her childhood friend Eve is already there and has stolen her identity!  

 

Audrey is a reluctant socialite.  Awkward and introverted, she meets village girl Eve who is her polar opposite, and the girls begin a friendship which will wax and wane through their childhoods and into their adult lives.  We follow their friendship through the 30’s and through the war – which is powerfully described and involving.  The scenes around the returning soldiers from Dunkirk, and in London during bombing raids are particularly memorable.  What happens afterwards, and why, ties directly to the book’s title.

 

Lynn Austen is an expert storyteller and this is a compelling read, dealing with family, friendship, love and loss.  It’s a big book at over 400 pages, but the pace never lets up for a minute, and the story kept me reading well into the small hours!  

 

On the down side, while I understand the use of American words in novels written for a largely US audience, I do find this particularly grates when used in text which is conversation between two English people. I also get irritated by things like references to ‘Westminster Abbey’s spires’, when Westminster Abbey does not have spires.

 

Despite this I would recommend this as a book which has much to offer any reader who likes big and involved stories set in and around the WWII period.

9781496437303, Tyndale House

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.

 

Being Known - Robin Jones Gunn

From the bestselling author of Becoming Us comes a novel that asks: What does it mean to be truly known? In a marriage, in a friendship, or by a loving God?

The first few lines of a book can often tell you much.  Being Known starts like this: ‘Whenever I close my eyes and think of my mother, I see her red toenails. Her perfectly manicured toes flaunting her signature nail-polish color, Oh My, Cherry Pie.’  I immediately feel disconnected. I come from a line of women for whom toenail polish has never been important! Yet I am completely engaged by the end of the first page, because the description of ‘alone’ is written so powerfully.  

Jennalyn has a beautiful home, two young children and a husband she loves but who works very long hours leaving the burden of raising their kids more and more heavily on Jennalyn. Struggling with grief over the death of her mother, she unexpectedly meets old flame Garrett, and the two start chatting online. As her connection with Garrett increases she begins to question decisions she’s made in the past. But is she risking her entire future? Meanwhile Jennalyn’s friend Beth has got tangled up in a messy relationship herself. Both women will have to face the truth about what they are doing, but will it be in time?  

This is a great summer read, involving, interesting, and thought-provoking.  The friendship of the five girlfriends is lovely and makes you either long for similar friends or be very thankful for those you have!  This is a straightforward read, but it doesn’t shy away from showing that being a Christian doesn’t always mean you make the right choices.  This is book 2 in the Haven Makers series, and I’ll now read book 1 to find out more about this group of friends.

9780734290778, Waterbrook Press, Published May 2020 (UK).

For transparency, I was sent an advance copy of this book, but I was not required to write any specific or favourable review. All views herein are my own.