Brightstorm: 1 (The Brightstorm Chronicles)

Reviews

C. Carter

I hope that we see the children’s emotional range develop with the next book in the series. Eudora Vane is a brilliantly heartless villain, Cruella de Ville crossed with the White Witch, you can’t help loving and hating her at the same time. See Vashti's website for many of her own suggestions. Highly recommended.

Sarah

Highlights for me were the thought-wolves, the wonderful map, and the fact that there are a set of twins at the centre of it all. The thought-wolves are wonderful and add real depth and wonder to the Brightstorm world. ) and the grief shown by the children at the deaths of some important characters seemed a little superficial. Brightstorm is an excellent book to use as a class reader for UKS2, and links well to topics on Explorers and the Arctic.

I had been waiting, for a while, for a book that didn't have just a sole protagonist. Arthur and Maudie together are fantastic. I read Brightstorm as part of the primary school teachers' book club on Twitter and absolutely loved it - a well-deserved five stars given and it's now up there with my favourite recent releases in children's literature.

Some of the secondary characters and settings did seem slightly pencilled in with a reliance on stereotypes (Buttoned-up butler, tick. Middle-Eastern-esque setting with exotic princes and colourful clothing, tick.

Brightstorm is a fantastic steampunk adventure for UKS2 – the plot twists and turns along, bouncing from bustling Lontown to the pastoral Second Continent to the frozen South Polaris so quickly there’s never a split-second chance of being bored. I look forward to sharing this book with my class! I loved the strongly realised main characters, in particular the twins, Maudie and Arthur. It impressed me more and more as I progressed through and, as a teacher, I could think of so many creative writing opportunities for how it could be used in the classroom.