LoveReading4Kids Says
September 2023 Book of the Month
Ysolda loves her home in the Glaw Wood; alongside her older sister, Hari, and pet sea hawk, Nara, she feels safe and loved. Their village is small, close-knit and just a little magical. Many of the inhabitants have magical powers firmly connected to the natural world around them; some can sense when water is nearby, others have an instinctive knowledge of forest foraging. But it’s Hari who has the most prized power – for she knows and understands the language of trees.
Beyond the Glaw Wood though, danger creeps ever closer. The Wolf Queen is on a power-hungry quest and will destroy all who stand in her way. When the evil queen has Hari kidnapped, Ysolda determines to save her beloved older sister.
The first in a new fantasy series, this is a middle grade novel rich in Millwood Hargrave’s exquisite, atmospheric style. The world building is rich, as the reader is carried through ship-carcass built castles and eerily silent, boggy woods. In one chapter you feel you are hiking through the forest alongside Ysolda, in another rotting, salty sea air wafts from the page.
Though it reads like a classic children’s fantasy adventure, this is a novel rooted firmly in the modern day. Strong well-rounded female characters abound, both protagonists and antagonists. Respect for nature, and the implications of what might happen when respect is not shown, is a big part of Ysolda’s story. The human desire for power has ravaged the landscape, and now nature replies with earthquakes, freak storms, eerie red skies and poisoned waters. There is a message for us all here.
A richly-imagined new fantasy series about the power of nature and the strength of sisterly love. - Amy McKay, LoveReading4Schools Expert Reviewer
Award winning Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s epic new trilogy launches with this gripping first volume. As ever, Millwood Hargrave has created a richly imagined new world as the setting for her pacy adventure. The power of nature and the power of love fuel this beautifully written story as Ysolda, the younger of a pair of orphaned sisters, sets out from the deep shades of her forest home with her loyal and wise sea hawk for company on a dangerous mission to find her sister after she is snatched away by the forces of the evil wolf queen. Ysolda can read the signs of nature easily but now she must learn to understand the different qualities of the new people around her. Who can she trust in the dangerous situations in which she finds herself?
Julia Eccleshare M.B.E
Find This Book In
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Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen Synopsis
The start of an epic new fantasy trilogy from bestselling, award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
The earth is stirring . . . Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen's tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat. Until one day when a mysterious earthquake shakes the land and her older sister Hari vanishes in its wake. Accompanied by her loyal sea hawk, Nara, Ysolda embarks on a desperate rescue mission. But when she is forced to strike a bargain with the wolf queen herself, she soon finds herself embroiled in a quest for a magic more powerful - and more dangerous - than she could ever have imagined ...
From the author of The Girl of Ink and Stars, Julia and the Shark and The Mercies, the Geomancer trilogy is a new modern classic for readers young and old.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781510107854 |
| Publication date: |
23rd May 2024 |
| Author: |
Kiran Millwood Hargrave |
| Publisher: |
Orion Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Group |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
283 pages |
| Series: |
A Geomancer Book |
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Kiran Millwood Hargrave Press Reviews
The kind of fantasy adventure I have always loved: evocative and imaginative and destined to be a classic - Garth Nix
A stunning adventure story - masterly storytelling from Kiran Millwood Hargrave - Cressida Cowell
Fierce, lyrical and compulsively readable; an earth-shattering fantasy - Piers Torday
The Wolf Queen herself is majestically ambiguous, sometimes magnetic and inspiring, sometimes chilling. And every adventure is better with giant sea wolves - Frances Hardinge
Bold, breathtaking and unbelievably beautiful fantasy - A.F. Steadman, author of the Skandar series
A truly epic fantasy adventure, full of wild magic, fierce bravery and the incredible power of love. I was utterly swept away by this masterpiece! - Catherine Doyle
Kiran Millwood Hargrave has crafted a wholly original world full of wild magic and thrilling adventure. The story sings and soars with her gorgeous, lyrical prose. This is a book to treasure - Katie Tsang
Lyrical and engrossing from the first line - Lizzie Huxley-Jones
This is a lyrical masterwork - an epic adventure woven from myth and magic, friendship and darkness. I loved it! - Struan Murray
The award-winning Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a class act embarking on an engrossing fantasy trilogy with In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen. Unlikely heroine Ysolda is made homeless by an earthquake and the arrival of the Wolf Queen's feared Ryders. Catapulted into a quest to rescue her imprisoned healer sister, she has to connive and plot to get near the answer to why everything is dying. Nuanced and varied female characters power this gripping, evocative plot about power-lust and the natural world in disarray. - The Observer
The first in an epic fantasy trilogy from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen celebrates magic, nature and adventure - The Guardian
Part natural phenomenon, part myth, this immersive adventure is luscious and dark - The Daily Mail
This fantasy is one of the autumn's most exciting new books - The Week Junior
Animals and ancient magic thrill in the first of a new trilogy - i weekend
This tale of adventure and magic is as brave as it is exciting - The Independent
The start of a new series, this is a beautifully and gently written story that is part adventure, part fairytale, part mystery, and with underlying tones of magic and mythology. With a main character as fierce and brave as any you'd find in a Katherine Rundell novel, themes of environmental consciousness, and elements of Tolkien, it's an immersive and immensely enjoyable read - Booktrust
A fantastical adventure, built on the foundations of the real world, and brimming with the kind of alluring, elemental magic that stretches your imagination into the furthest and most fertile regions of the mind...a dazzling opener to what promises to be a modern classic - The Lancashire Evening Post
Rich in Millwood Hargrave's exquisite, atmospheric style. The world building is rich, as the reader is carried through ship-carcass built castles and eerily silent, boggy woods. In one chapter you feel you are hiking through the forest alongside Ysolda, in another rotting, salty sea air wafts from the page...a richly imagined new fantasy series about the power of nature and strength of sisterly love - LoveReading4Kids
Kiran is an exceptional writer whose world-building is always vivid and immersive...the book is one to savour and immerse yourself in...a must-read - K & O Bonkers About Books blog
I became completely absorbed in the story, with its amazing detail, descriptive text, and fast pace. I wait in anticipation for the next episode of this trilogy! - The School Librarian
This dark adventure weaves myths and natural phenomena in a twisty web - The Daily Mail
About Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning poet, playwright, and bestselling author. Her debut The Girl of Ink & Stars won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2017 and the British Book Award's Children's Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Jhalak Prize, the Branford Boase Award and the Little Rebels Prize.
Her second novel The Island at the End of Everything was released in April 2017, and was shortlisted for both the Costa Book Award and Blue Peter Children’s Book Award. Her fourth poetry collection OE, a retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice in collaboration with the artist Tom de Freston, was published by Bloomsbury in October 2017.
Kiran lives by the river in Oxford with her husband, Tom, and their cat, Luna.
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