Penguin

August 2019

ISBN: 9780143794462

Imprint: Puffin

RRP: $16.99

When Deborah Abela started her ‘cranky climate change’ series it was because she was prompted to do so by the refusal of world governments to take action against the obvious and dangerous climatic changes threatening the world as we know it. A decade after the publication of Grimsdon our global leaders still prove to be ignorant and, worse, reckless about the increasingly dire situation facing humanity.

Isabella and Griffin along with their friends have now become settled in New City with Jeremiah acting as their guardian. They attend The Academy where they are learning many new and exciting things but need to deal with situations, not perhaps as dangerous as their adventures in Grimsdon, but certainly fraught.  One of their fellow students is the much-lauded Aleksander Larsen, an up-and-coming brilliant star though not necessarily likeable. It doesn’t take long for Aleksander’s pseudo-charm to become something entirely different.

Wild weather is again wreaking havoc with inexplicable and unpredictable patterns and Jeremiah is hard-pressed with the Bureau of Weather neither to make sense of any of it nor to stop it. It is almost as though there is something entirely unnatural about it all.  And indeed there is.  A grim spectre from the past has risen and presents a ruthless and wanton danger not only to the children but to the entire world. And like so many of our own so-called leaders the bottom line is money and power with not so much as a fleeting thought or concern for any who might get in the way.

Once again Deborah has given middle school readers a thrilling adventure/fantasy that will have readers on the edge of their seats but also will give them much on which to reflect. As young people such as Greta Thunberg take action in a powerful (and fast growing) global movement, in a world where the power-mongers refuse to act this is exactly the kind of narrative to inspire more and more of our future citizens.

Kudos to Deborah for another inspired instalment in what has become one of the most popular series for this age group!

Highly recommended for readers from around ten years upwards.