In the final book of The Unmapped Chronicles series, Morg is hiding out in The Faraway, in New York to be specific, where she meets Zebedee (Zeb) who has run away (again) from his foster home. Disillusioned by the foster system and determined to find his own way (without having one of his outbursts), he finds himself taking shelter in an abandoned theatre where he finds a piano sat under a rather magnificent chandelier. Unbeknown to anyone, Zeb has taught himself to play the piano and is very good at it, so much so, it draws the attention of one of the locals ... who just happens to be Fox Petty-Squabble! She heads to the theatre to investigate and finds Zeb. Using her skills as a social worker, she manages to talk to him and promises to help once she has run home for her purse. However, in the time that she is away, Morg puts in an appearance and manages to persuade Zeb that Fox is lying to him, and that she can give him all the riches he desires, if he will help her by getting the last of the phoenix tears that have been hidden in the chandelier above his head. He does so but, as you may expect, things don't go quite as he expected and he finds himself dragged into Crackledawn, one of the Unmapped kingdoms, where he does the only thing he knows how to: he runs away. With no idea where he is, he finds himself stumbling into Oonie and Mr Fickletint, the talking chameleon, aboard their boat, The Kerfuffle. Despite vowing to never trust anyone again, he realises that he may have to trust Oonie, in order to save himself and defeat Morg once and for all.
I have loved this entire series and am a big fan of Abi's work; Jungledrop got my class through the first lockdown last year the entire series is incredibly popular in school, so much so that there were squeals of excitement from my book group when I told them what I was reading! (quickly followed by loud moans of despair when they discovered it was an electronic copy so they wouldn't be able to borrow it from me!). Knowing that once I'd picked it up I wouldn't be able to put it down, I decided not to begin reading it until the weekend. The suspense was unbearable but the wait was worth every second of anticipation!
The first chapter was reminiscent of Rumblestar and felt like coming home. With a blend of warmth and humorous touches, Abi's writing is welcoming and draws you in from the first page. Throughout the book she is both wise and poetic in her writing ...
'Every sunrise and every sunset you see in your world is, in fact a symphony,' Mrs Fickletint explained. 'A unique piece of music made up of a thousand sounds hauled up from the bottom of the sea by Sunraiders here in Crackledawn.'
... and has a brain that comes up with THE best character names I have ever come across - Perpetual Faff and her bag that swallows her belongings is a particular favourite, but I'm also rather partial to the idea of a hurtle turtle to keep everything tidy!
Zeb has had a difficult life and struggles to trust people. He hasn't spent much time with one family and chooses to hide himself away instead of risking getting to know people and getting hurt - his past has clearly effected him. Then when he meets Oonie, he is taken aback by her and her independence. She is quite the character and her fierce sense of self and determination, despite the challenges she faces, will be an inspiration to every reader. I was incredibly pleased to see Fox again; in fact the links to the previous books are all wonderful to see.
Abi builds yet another wonderful world through her descriptions, scene setting and clever use of vocabulary, which results in an marvellously immersive book. I found myself transported to Crackledawn, travelling alongside Zeb and Oonie, quite forgetting that I was actually curled up on my sofa!
I have to admit that I stayed up way past my bedtime reading The Crackledawn Dragon as I couldn't put the book down; however, I was also completely torn as I was desperate to eek it out as much as possible as I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this world!
Finally, I'm going to be honest and say that, bizarrely, I found it difficult to write this review as I don't think that anything I'm saying is actually doing justice to the book! In short, The Crackledawn Dragon is a masterclass in writing; a feast for the senses and an absolute joy to read.... I highly recommend pre-ordering it and then finding the time to hide yourself away so you can read it one go!
Release date: 10th June 2021.
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