‘Azalea Fern and the Last Ruin of the Extinct’ by Becci Murray is an entertaining middle-grade adventure. A fantasy story based after the demise of the Sapiens, Azalea and her friend Oak-Lea stumble across old technology and a secret that could change everything. Azalea, the main character in this new fantasy series, is a precocious and curious girl. I liked her confidence, even when it was luring herself and her best friend into trouble, and I think readers will find her very endearing. As this is a fantasy story, there’s lots of descriptions of the setting and the strange animals that are found in the grove. I found the setting and world-building very immersive and I think that younger readers will have a lot of fun outside of reading the story creating their own ideas of what these strange and new animals like Buttermoths look like. This story is full of mystery, as Azalea explores and uncovers a secret that could change everything. Merged within this family story are themes of friendship, family and community as well as posing some important questions about how humans treat the world around us and our attitudes to its other inhabitants. The ending is complete but leaves the reader with lots of questions that will hopefully be answered in later books. A great middle-grade book with short and easy to follow chapters, an entertaining storyline and some fantastic fully dimensional characters.
Charlotte Walker, A LoveReading4Kids Ambassador
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