The Emerald Atlas

John Stephens (author)

Doubleday, USA: April 2011; 415pp

ISBN: 9780857530196

Genre: adventure, fantasy

Issues: family, sibling relationships, trust, values

Snatched from their beds to flee in the night with someone they don't even know, Kate, Michael and Emma have no knowledge of their dangerous destiny.

Fourteen year old Kate's strongest memory is of being woken late on Christmas Eve, age four, given a book of her father's and a locket of her mother's, and promising her parents that she will look after her younger brother and sister. She has done this faithfully, a huge burden for one so young. In the process of exploring the ancient house to which they've been sent the three siblings discover a magical book that transports them through time and into dreadful danger.

How can Kate take care of Michael and Emma in a world of fearsome monsters, an evil enchantress, and where children are pawns in terrible game of power? How can Kate protect them from the ancient magical prophecy that seems to involve all of them – her most of all? It seems that only by saving everyone else – a town, magical and non-magical peoples, perhaps the world itself – can Kate save her beloved siblings.

John Stephens' experience in TV script writing shows in this drama-filled fantasy adventure. This, his first novel is constructed in a very cinematic way, with short bursts of narrative from different characters' perspectives although still using the omniscient narrator's voice. The technique works well, giving readers rapid access to many different characters and the relationships between them. Making the archetypal mage/wise man of the genre appear at the beginning of the story as a mysterious character of uncertain alliances and motivations adds a subtle tension to the novel that underlies the sense of insecurity with which the children have lived all their lives.

A polished and very readable novel, The Emerald Atlas is the first title in what promises to be an interesting trilogy.