The Silver Road

 by Sinéad O'Hart;  

          

                                                                 

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.

Hello, and welcome to my weekend Book Review featuring Adventures in Middle-Grade Fiction. If you're here for the selfie, please scroll down!

 

Our book review this week is from the brilliant Irish writer, Sinéad O'Hart.  As you may recall, we reviewed her recently released book, The Time Tider, a few weeks back. This adventure is quite different, though no less exciting for the younger reader. 

 

So, without further ado, gather your nearest and dearest together beside a fire, have a hot drink to hand, and settle in for an adventure into myth and legend. 

 

 

AUTHOR: Sinéad O'Hart

 

Cover art by: Manuel Šumberac

 

Published by: Bonnier Books UK. 

 

Imprint: Piccadilly Press.

 

Publication date for the paperback:  28 September 2023

 

Paperback ISBN:   978 - 1800 785 090

 

Cover price for Paperback £7.35

Kindle Price: £4.74

 

Pages: 192

 

Age range: 8 upwards

Any dogs or cats? A very much Not Cat kind of cat called Catshee. More on that in the story.

 

 

SPOILER ALERT

Some as to plot direction and characters.

 

 

Thank you to... 

 

We are exceedingly grateful to Sinéad, Bonnier Books/Piccadilly Press Publishers and NetGalley for the privilege of getting to Read & Review this exciting new release before publication. 

As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, been given as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review. 

First and foremost, the books we review are those we like and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their children, friends, and students will enjoy.

 

 

The plot

 

Ireland is a land of mystery, magic, legend and myth. Where time holds the truth of gods, witches, giants and all manner of creatures that helped shape their past and traditions. But the magic wanes when the magic is no longer passed down through tales, recalled around the fireside and man's destruction of the land and old ways through 'progress'. Dangerously so, and enough that something begins to awaken from deep within the earth, aided by a witch. 

 

In the (fictional) town of Carriganawn, Young Rose Darke lives with her parents and twin younger brothers. Late one night, hearing a strange sound outside, she ventures into the garden, armed only with her mother's best wooden spoon. 

 

Before her, a large ice giant forms from the falling hail. Voiceless, it gestures she should take a reddish, oval stone from its grasp. Having done so, the strange yet unthreatening giant leaps into the sky and is gone, swallowed into a peculiar darkness. 

 

Confused, Rose returns to bed and thinks it is a dream. But waking to find the stone is real, along with her mother's wrath for ruining her spoon, she wonders what is going on? 

 

Rose won a full scholarship to a posh Grammar School but comes from a poorer but good family who happens to live on a council estate on the other side of town. This fact is made clear by Emer, a girl in her year who makes her life less than good. Unfortunately, Rose can't retaliate or cause a stink as her dad is employed by Emer's father. It would go badly for them all if he lost his job.

 

Rose takes a different way to school to avoid Emer and her friends, passing along a lesser-used road with shops. Here she finds friendship in the unlikely shape of the elderly lady, Nellie, who owns a sweet shop, and Gracie, an equally older gent who owns the cobblers shop on the opposite side of the road.

 

Now, the stone is known to Nellie and Gracie, who have much to share with young Rose. When she ventures into their parlour for a cup of tea and to pass some time and share her woes, she is soon shown a hidden world beyond the ordinary facade of the sweet shop. The two elderly folk are not mortals but beings from long past whose job is to protect the Silver Road, the magic network of threads that crisscross Ireland, its magical lifeblood, if you will. They also protect a large and mythical cauldron inset into a mound in the green garden beyond the back kitchen door. The cauldron can grant wishes if it so chooses.

 

But the adventure soon takes off as the purpose of the stone gifted by the Ice Giant is revealed to Rose. In fact, her destiny is to be a hero and wield the stone's destructive power for good.

 

When the stone is lost and found by Emer, things worsen, and Emer falls under its power. 

 

Through these events, the heatwave that is affecting the town is worsening. It seems the witch is the cause, and the heat is only a taste of the destruction to be unleashed when she awakens the monster that is her beloved and imprisoned husband. The light from his evil eye will scorch the earth. 

 

With the power in the Silver Road weakening because of human kinds' rape of the land and development, Nellie and Gracie's powers are weakened. 

 

With the stone lost and only a magical cobblers hammer in her belt, Rose sets off to stop an impending cataclysmic event and evil arising from the dead and depths of the mythology.

 

I have to let the reader discover what happens next, the surprises that follow, the support Rose gets from unlikely quarters, and the fights that take place. 

So, what did we think?

 

Mythology and legend rewoven and told for a modern younger audience with aplomb and zest worthy of the first story weavers. I dare say Tolkien would have been impressed also!

 

We are not great lovers of complex names or convolutions of historical epics, but thankfully this book has both a prologue that sets the scene and an appendix to enlighten us further as to characters and their place in history, or in the case of where the author has created them, their inspiration. 

 

The action takes off about halfway through, and I found it hard to put down, especially once the not cat becomes involved and we reach a sort of gathering of forces. 

 

Which all makes me think of the Lord of the Rings. The eloquence of the introduction of characters, their journey, wants and needs. Friendships and enemies. Surprises and, to a degree, heartache. 

 

We loved the cover, too, the relevance of which you'll discover once you read the story.

So . . . . 

Crunch time. 

 

A book for lovers of Irish and Celtic mythology, as well as an excellent wholesome adventure. With some environmental undertones as well as those of friendship and responsibility.

 

This ticks all the boxes, and I can't imagine any younger reader not wanting to read more about the actual characters that have lent themselves to this story in one shape or another and to read similar books.

Want to buy a copy?

To get a copy, please follow your own Silver Road – mindful of ogres, giants, ghosts and huge stags, down to your local independent bookshop. Plenty are out there; each shop is just waiting to serve up whatever kind of mystery, factual, magical, fun and adventure story you desire.

 

Sinéad O'Hart web page can be found HERE or type this: https://sjohart.wordpress.com/

 

Manuel Šumberac's web page can be found HERE or type this: https://www.manuelsumberac.com/

 

Bonnier Books web page can be found HERE or type this:  https://www.bonnierbooks.co.uk/

 

And now, the Sunday Selfie. 

 

We are joining Janet Blue from the Cat on My Head blog for the weekly parade of selfies from all manner of companion creatures from across the pond and around the globe. 

To go to Janet's blog selfie page, please click this LINK, or type / cut and paste  https://thecatonmyhead.com/the-end-of-an-era/

And finally, here is my selfie 🙂 🙂

 

Till laters!

ERin

The Time Tider

 by Sinéad O'Hart;                                                                          

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.

Hello, and welcome to my weekend Book Review featuring Adventures in Middle-Grade Fiction.

 

For those wishing the Sunday Selfie, scroll on down!

Without further ado or comic skit from Mrs H and I, we have the distinct pleasure to introduce this weeks timely adventure..... The Time Tider

AUTHOR:  Sinéad O'Hart

 

Cover art by: Abigail L. Dela Cruz

 

Published by: Little Tiger

Publication date for paperback:  2 Feb 2023

 

Paperback ISBN:   978 - 1 - 78895 - 330 - 6

 

Cover price for Paperback £7.99

 

Pages: 223

 

Age range: 8+

Any dogs or cats? No

 

 

SPOILER ALERT

 

Yes, as to plot direction and characters. 

 

Thank you to... 

We are exceedingly grateful to Sinéad O'Hart, and Dannie Price of Little Tiger Publishers for arranging for us to have the advance copy of this excellent book for review. 

 

As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have read and like and feel our readers deserve to know about and that we hope they will enjoy. 

 

The Plot

Set in Ireland, our book opens with 12-year-old Mara collecting food from a City Homeless Outreach point. She pockets extra food when she can, then goes to leave. But being a solitary child, she's caught the eye of the staff. They give chase when she won't stop and discuss being out alone. Mara has a gift and can see what she calls a 'soft place' in time, bubbles if you will, that she can duck into and elude capture, which she does. A short while later, she returns home to the rickety van she has grown up in. Here her dad, Gabriel, is busy with sealed glass jars and strange, gas-like substances within.

 

Mara's life since her mother died has been one long journey. Travelling by backroads and often by night, she and her father crisscross the country. Eluding the people, he says, are chasing them and meaning them harm. What he does when he goes off to see people and conduct business, she doesn't know. At least that was until waking up one morning in an empty van, she goes to explore. Hearing voices, she watches Gabriel conduct a deal. He passes over one of the glass jars for money. The buyer drinks what's within, and Mara thinks her father momentarily vanishes, a fact he later denies. 

 

Mara is of the age when she needs to know. She wonders what it's like to live an ordinary life, have friends and go to school. To be in one place. And to learn more about her mother. She also wants to know more about what Gabriel's up to. 

 

Whilst her father is away from the van, Mara searches his things for clues and answers. The discovery of rolled-up papers in a sealed bottle, entitled The Time Tiders Handbook, heralds the beginning of the adventure. More discoveries follow, including a picture of her mother. But before she can glean much information from her father, their pursuers catch up. In the ensuing frantic escape, with Mara at the van's wheel, her father says he will give himself up. All Mara has to do is keep going and find someone called Lenny. Thrusting his precious and unique watch and notebook into her lap, he jumps out and is captured. 

But who is Lenny? Mara has distant recollections and an idea of his location. And what does he have to do with her father being a Time Tider? Indeed, what is a Time Tider? If she is going to get her father back and get the information she needs, she has no choice but to find Lenny. 

Who is chasing them and why will soon be revealed to her. But as she gets more involved, her search becomes far more deadly than any 12-year-old and her newfound friend, Jan, should be involved in. You see, the Time Tider, Gabriel, harvests unused time from the dead. It can also be taken from the living, which is something that he should never do but does to make money. The bad people want what only her father can give – extra life. They want the bottled life he has stashed away, all of it, and to take his skill. To get it, they'll seemingly stop at nothing. They will risk everything, including the collapse of time and the world's destruction.

So, what did we think?

 

The premise of the Time Tider is that time itself needs to be balanced and the extra time from those that die too early collected and stored safely and never used. The more time left uncollected and allowed to merge together, the greater the risk of cataclysmic results. This is not an idea I have read before, nor for that matter, seen in the movies. So like so many great books, it instantly appealed, and I needed to know more.

How would the writer deal with such a potentially complex Sci-Fi style subject? Would it be another out-of-this-world, and sadly, beyond-belief Marvel-Esque adventure? The only way was to ask to do a review. And I am so pleased Dannie obliged me with the copy. 

Over a few nights, we became engrossed in Sinéad's storytelling and this intelligent, pacy adventure. 

The story is delightfully grounded in the here and now, atmospheric, plausible, at times heartfelt, never short on pace and utterly engaging. 

The cast grows with the adventure, never pushy or unlikely for the plot. Nothing is ever too much for the reader, which reflects some clearly serious story plotting. The final chapters were addictive and demanding to be read. The conclusion, well, I can't spoil that, though it wasn't what I expected, which is always lovely.  

 

Sat here now, Mrs H says it is an adventure that lingers in the mind and poses some ethical dilemmas that are not easy to answer. This adds so well to the story's credibility. 

So . . . . 

 

Crunch time.

A perfect middle-grade read with a delightful cover that I think will appeal. Mara is a Brilliant young protagonist with hard decisions to make and a van full of trouble chasing and snapping at her heels. What's not to love!

 

Want to buy a copy?

 To get a copy, please choose your local independent bookshop. There are plenty out there, and each shop just waits to serve up whatever kind of mystery, fun and adventure you desire. The acquisition of real-time is, however, most unlikely, though transportation to other realms is a given ;)

Sinéad O'Hart web page can be found HERE or type this: https://sjohart.wordpress.com/



Abigail L. Dela Cruz can be found on Tumblr via this LINK or type this: https://abbydraws.tumblr.com/



Little Tiger web page can be found HERE or type this: https://littletiger.co.uk/




I shall leave you with my entry for the Sunday Selfies, hosted by Janet Blue from the Cat on My Head Blog, featuring the Kitties Blue.

 

 

A very nearly spotless selfie 🙂 🙂

 

 

 

Till laters!

ERin