This is the final book in the series and the second that I have had the honour of reviewing. There are four titles in the series and the two I have written about are numbers three and four. Looking back on my previous review I voiced the thought that I would like to know about the back story of some of the characters; I am please to say that the author has given me what I asked for, so thank you for this. Although it is possible to read this book as a stand alone, in order to fully appreciate the storyline you need to read the preceding three books in the series.
Hashtag Press, 9781913835286
In this amazing finale to the series we have a world that is living in fear of the renegade warriors, who are following the infamous Neci, and who is yet again trying to destroy the warriors and in particular Emily and her family. Neci is raising an army by taking control of warriors, so that they become mindless robots. The time is fast approaching when there will be a final showdown, but although her father thinks he will be the one to battle Neci (for the second time), Emily knows that it will be her turn to face their mortal enemy and she is worried that she might not have strong enough powers for the fight.
What a fantastic series this has been, with some really strong characters and a very clever plot line, where you are not always sure what side many of the protagonists are on. At one level this is about the fight between good and evil; but in reality it is about the way people react to those around them who are different. This can be a matter of skills, powers, colour or diversity and of course all of this can create frictions and make it difficult to trust those around, even close family members. This author is becoming one of those go to people when you want to read about fantastic and magical happenings and the whole series is highly recommended.
About the Author
Abiola Bello is a Nigerian-British, prize-winning, bestselling children’s and YA author
who was born and raised in London. Abiola is an advocate for diversity in books for
young people. She was nominated for the CILIP’s Carnegie Award, won London’s
BIG Read 2019, and was a finalist for the People’s Book Prize Best Children’s Book.
Abiola contributed to The Very Merry Murder Club and The Super Sunny
Murder Club, a collection of mysteries from exciting and diverse children’s writers
published by Farshore, and selected as Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month.
Her debut YA for Simon & Schuster, Love in Winter Wonderland, published in
November 2022 and was an Amazon’s Editor’s Choice and was featured in The
Guardian’s Children’s and Teens Best New Novels. Only For The Holidays was her
second YA book with S&S, followed by The Love Dare, which released in summer
2024. In March 2025, Abiola’s “Wild Magic” children’s fiction series will launch (also
with S&S) its first title: Wild Magic: Legend of the Black Lion. She performed for more than a decade in prestigious venues including The Royal Opera House, Hammersmith Apollo and Unicorn
Theatre. Abiola has also appeared on BBC’s The Apprentice, Got To Dance and Street
Dance AllStars The Movie.
Abiola wrote her first novel at the age of eight – when she fought monsters
and dragons on a daily basis – and experienced her first taste of ‘being published’ after
winning a school poetry competition at the age of 12. Seeing her words in print fuelled
a passion for writing that remains to this day.