
[Hardcover, read aloud to Adelle and Nils]
This is the third book in the Skandar series, a series we have been enjoying so far. They are set in a fantasy world where unicorns are found to be real and have magical powers when teamed up with a rider. They are vicious animals quite unlike those you normally think of.
This third book covers Skandars third year at the Eyrie (the previous two covered his first and second years) – his sister joins him on the island, and there is an unexpected tension between them as Skandar tries to please everyone but manages to annoy everyone while he is doing it (sounds familiar). It turns out that their family is even more broken than we had thought in the previous two books.
Similarities with the magical world of Harry Potter are obvious, but this series is grittier, Skandar being more flawed than Harry but trying harder to get things right. I’m hoping the views of writer, AF Steadman, are more palatable than those of Rowling, but I haven’t found any comments either way.
Adelle and Nils both love this series, the first book was much better than we had expected from the cheesy looking cover, so we continued with the next book when that came out – there will be five books in the series, one for each magical element, earth, wind, fire, water and spirit. We have already started the next, Skandar and the Skeleton Curse. The final book in the series is not yet available but is due to be published in August.