By Kiran Millwood Hargrave (author) Part of the A Geomancer Book series
""A richly-imagined new fantasy series about the power of nature and the strength of sisterly love""
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September 2023 Book of the Month
Ysolda loves her home in the Glaw Wood; alongside her older sister, Hari, and pet sea hawk, Nara, she feels safe and loved. Their village is small, close-knit and just a little magical. Many of the inhabitants have magical powers firmly connected to the natural world around them; some can sense when water is nearby, others have an instinctive knowledge of forest foraging. But it’s Hari who has the most prized power – for she knows and understands the language of trees.
Beyond the Glaw Wood though, danger creeps ever closer. The Wolf Queen is on a power-hungry quest and will destroy all who stand in her way. When the evil queen has Hari kidnapped, Ysolda determines to save her beloved older sister.
The first in a new fantasy series, this is a middle grade novel rich in Millwood Hargrave’s exquisite, atmospheric style. The world building is rich, as the reader is carried through ship-carcass built castles and eerily silent, boggy woods. In one chapter you feel you are hiking through the forest alongside Ysolda, in another rotting, salty sea air wafts from the page.
Though it reads like a classic children’s fantasy adventure, this is a novel rooted firmly in the modern day. Strong well-rounded female characters abound, both protagonists and antagonists. Respect for nature, and the implications of what might happen when respect is not shown, is a big part of Ysolda’s story.
The human desire for power has ravaged the landscape, and now nature replies with earthquakes, freak storms, eerie red skies and poisoned waters. There is a message for us all here.
A richly-imagined new fantasy series about the power of nature and the strength of sisterly love. - Amy McKay, LoveReading4Schools Expert Reviewer
Award winning Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s epic new trilogy launches with this gripping first volume. As ever, Millwood Hargrave has created a richly imagined new world as the setting for her pacy adventure. The power of nature and the power of love fuel this beautifully written story as Ysolda, the younger of a pair of orphaned sisters, sets out from the deep shades of her forest home with her loyal and wise sea hawk for company on a dangerous mission to find her sister after she is snatched away by the forces of the evil wolf queen.
Ysolda can read the signs of nature easily but now she must learn to understand the different qualities of the new people around her. Who can she trust in the dangerous situations in which she finds herself?
The start of an epic new fantasy trilogy from bestselling, award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave.
Read the full description
The earth is stirring . . . Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen's tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat. Until one day when a mysterious earthquake shakes the land and her older sister Hari vanishes in its wake. Accompanied by her loyal sea hawk, Nara, Ysolda embarks on a desperate rescue mission.
But when she is forced to strike a bargain with the wolf queen herself, she soon finds herself embroiled in a quest for a magic more powerful - and more dangerous - than she could ever have imagined ...
From the author of The Girl of Ink and Stars, Julia and the Shark and The Mercies , the Geomancer trilogy is a new modern classic for readers young and old.
The kind of fantasy adventure I have always loved: evocative and imaginative and destined to be a classic - Garth Nix
A stunning adventure story - masterly storytelling from Kiran Millwood Hargrave - Cressida Cowell
Fierce, lyrical and compulsively readable; an earth-shattering fantasy - Piers Torday
The Wolf Queen herself is majestically ambiguous, sometimes magnetic and inspiring, sometimes chilling. And every adventure is better with giant sea wolves - Frances Hardinge
Bold, breathtaking and unbelievably beautiful fantasy - A.F. Steadman, author of the Skandar series
A truly epic fantasy adventure, full of wild magic, fierce bravery and the incredible power of love. I was utterly swept away by this masterpiece! - Catherine Doyle
Kiran Millwood Hargrave has crafted a wholly original world full of wild magic and thrilling adventure. The story sings and soars with her gorgeous, lyrical prose. This is a book to treasure - Katie Tsang
Lyrical and engrossing from the first line - Lizzie Huxley-Jones
This is a lyrical masterwork - an epic adventure woven from myth and magic, friendship and darkness. I loved it! - Struan Murray
The award-winning Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a class act embarking on an engrossing fantasy trilogy with In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen. Unlikely heroine Ysolda is made homeless by an earthquake and the arrival of the Wolf Queen's feared Ryders. Catapulted into a quest to rescue her imprisoned healer sister, she has to connive and plot to get near the answer to why everything is dying. Nuanced and varied female characters power this gripping, evocative plot about power-lust and the natural world in disarray. - The Observer
The first in an epic fantasy trilogy from Kiran Millwood Hargrave, In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen celebrates magic, nature and adventure - The Guardian
Part natural phenomenon, part myth, this immersive adventure is luscious and dark - The Daily Mail
This fantasy is one of the autumn's most exciting new books - The Week Junior
Animals and ancient magic thrill in the first of a new trilogy - i weekend
This tale of adventure and magic is as brave as it is exciting - The Independent
The start of a new series, this is a beautifully and gently written story that is part adventure, part fairytale, part mystery, and with underlying tones of magic and mythology. With a main character as fierce and brave as any you'd find in a Katherine Rundell novel, themes of environmental consciousness, and elements of Tolkien, it's an immersive and immensely enjoyable read - Booktrust
A fantastical adventure, built on the foundations of the real world, and brimming with the kind of alluring, elemental magic that stretches your imagination into the furthest and most fertile regions of the mind...a dazzling opener to what promises to be a modern classic - The Lancashire Evening Post
Rich in Millwood Hargrave's exquisite, atmospheric style. The world building is rich, as the reader is carried through ship-carcass built castles and eerily silent, boggy woods. In one chapter you feel you are hiking through the forest alongside Ysolda, in another rotting, salty sea air wafts from the page...a richly imagined new fantasy series about the power of nature and strength of sisterly love - LoveReading4Kids
Kiran is an exceptional writer whose world-building is always vivid and immersive...the book is one to savour and immerse yourself in...a must-read - K & O Bonkers About Books blog
I became completely absorbed in the story, with its amazing detail, descriptive text, and fast pace. I wait in anticipation for the next episode of this trilogy! - The School Librarian
This dark adventure weaves myths and natural phenomena in a twisty web - The Daily Mail
Kiran Millwood Hargrave is an award-winning, bestselling novelist. Her debut story for children The Girl of Ink & Stars won the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, and the British Book Awards Children's Book of the Year. Her work has been short- and long-listed for numerous major prizes including the Costa Award and the CILIP Carnegie Award, and her novel Julia and the Shark , illustrated by Tom de Freston, was named Waterstones Children's Gift of the Year, and Leila and the Blue Fox won the Wainwright Prize.
She's a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and lives in Oxford with her husband, daughter and cats, in a house between a river and a forest.
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When Ysolda's sister is taken by the Wolf Queen's ryders, Ysolda sets out with her sea hawk, Nara, to set her free. Forced into a bargain with the queen, Ysolda is bound for an epic adventure.
This story is about a young girl called Ysolda who is devastated when her sister is taken by the ryders (the soldiers of the Wolf Queen). The Wolf Queen is a queen who rules over the realms and has taken over with her ferocious sea wolves. Ysolda decides to leave home with her sea hawk, Nara, to find the ryders and get her sister back.
She is captured by the ryders and taken to the wolf queen who tells her she is looking for the anchorite to become the geomancer (the person who has control over all of the powers of the earth).
Ysolda makes a bargain with the Wolf Queen so that if she helps the queen find the anchorite the queen will let her and her sister free.... Read Full Review
This book combines fantasy, trust and friendship into a chain of betrayal, subterfuge and chicanery. Action-packed, heart-warming, unpredictable - this book is perfect for 8-14 year olds
This is the first enchanting book in the Geomancer series by Kiran Millwood Hargrove. I loved all the twists and turns in a seemingly never ending plot and it kept me on tenterhooks the whole time. I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of the wolf queen’s palace in its shipwrecked glory, the end world wood with its roots entwining together amicably and the queens majestic sea wolves riding through the night. Glowwood is a place like no other with magical greenery where people only take what they need. This book let me live vicariously through the eyes of the main character as I witnessed a village-swallowing rip in the ground tear open , rode on the back of a mystical sea wolf and watched a sea hawk swoop through the blood red sky.... Read Full Review
The start of an epic new fantasy trilogy from bestselling, award-winning author Kiran Millwood Hargrave. The earth is stirring . . . Ysolda has lived her life in the shadow of the wolf queen's tyrannical rule but, safe in her forest haven, she has never truly felt its threat.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Fantasy / Magical, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
Paperback, Hardback. £7.19, down from the £7.99 cover price. In Stock.
Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen was written by Kiran Millwood Hargrave and published by Orion Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Group
Geomancer: In the Shadow of the Wolf Queen has 283 pages
Yes it is part of A Geomancer Book series
£7.19, reduced from £7.99. In Stock.
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