Wednesday 8 August 2007

Flyte (Book sent by www.writeaway.org.uk)

Picture Provided by Fantastic Fiction

Author: Angie Sage

Genre: Fantasy Adventure
Age Range: 7+
Theme/Subject: magic, family, darkness, revenge, dragons
Publisher: Bloomsbury


ISBN: 0747577722



Summary:

The evil necromancer, Dom Daniel, is set to return to create havoc and wreck vengeance upon all who stand in his way. Can young Septimus Heap save his sister, the Princess, as well as the city itself before it is too late? If he is to do so then Septimus must summon every ounce and cunning to try and outwit the darke wizard and his followers.

Review:

Angie Sage returns to her world again with ‘Flyte’, the second book in her magical ‘Septimus Heap’ trilogy. Along with a host of new characters (too many new ones for my liking), we revisit the lives of the miraculous and abundant Heap family and they fight off Dom Daniel and his minions. Sage plays to her strengths once again by creating strong characters and a superb sense of place and time in this magical world.

Having enjoyed the first book so much, I was looking to much the same formula this time round. The characters and sense of place are so well done; I particularly loved Simon’s Observatory. However, I felt that this second instalment was weak on creating a gripping story. The plotline was a littld dull and I only hope that Sage is putting things in place for the final book; ‘Physik’.
The chapters are very short and this is great for those children who can only read for short spaces of time. Each chapter also has a lush illustration at the start. I liked the font type and found the writing large and well spaced, making for easy reading on the eyes. Being the second in the trilogy, I would not recommend this to be read at school (Magik would be good though), but the trilogy itself would make a great school library addition.

The book allows the reader to get closer to the Heap family s/he knows well now and it was nice to see how they have developed since we last met them. There are many Rowlingesque elements that work well for anyone that wants a taste of a Potter-like world: dragons, magic, fumbling ghosts; a general baddy and a team of young children attempting to fight against him.