Secret Beast Club: The Unicorns of Silver Street by Robin Birch and Jobe Anderson
| Secret Beast Club: The Unicorns of Silver Street by Robin Birch and Jobe Anderson | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: This young fantasy drama spends so long setting up the world of the series to come, it will only feel like a minor adventure in the light of the inevitable sequels. But it's still not a poor choice, all said and done, and those further books will be gratefully received. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 176 | Date: February 2023 |
| Publisher: Puffin | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9780241573488 | |
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Jayden's nose is forever in a book, which means he knows a lot about mythological creatures – the phoenixes and unicorns of the world, for example. Aisha is addicted to her new tablet, where she can see videos of anything that might be out there. The problem, as their mothers see it, is that they are never 'out there' themselves, exploring the outside world of Hackney, London. But when a narrowboat turns up carrying a science-minded, educational purpose, and with a past involving Jayden's cousin, they find a magical world they never knew existed. For many of those mythological creatures are real, including the one Aisha thinks she's seen on a bit of local footage. The crew of the boat, including a living gargoyle, are tasked with saving the rare critters – and the kids unknowingly have the magical sight needed to join in. Dare they side with Leila, the woman on board, and her relative who lives as a figure in a painting, and become saviours of the unseen?
You bet they do, but they take their time about it. And that kind of hampers this, the opening book in this series. It's going to be obvious to all that the first third, and more, is building up to them joining the Secret Beast Club, and setting the scene for all the wonders to come. It's such a gentle, and explaining-everything kind of build-up, and no, that is not just because this is for the under-tens. I am convinced it could have taken up fewer pages than it did here.
Luckily, there is definitely a strong drama to be had after that. The unicorns have had a newborn which is a rare thing to be much celebrated. But the baddy humans (and oddly enough, yes, they do exist) have snatched it. War is spoken of as retribution, but our plucky duo might just about be the key to helping peace that we all need. The adventures that follow will allow any reader to be engaged – the book uses margin designs and font changes to brighten up as many pages as possible, the chapters alternate from Aisha to Jayden and back, and it's all decently done. You don't have to know anything about Hackney to find a likeable situation here, and in a reversal of the racism of generations ago, all the main characters are people of colour with all the baddies white.
Beyond the lengthy process we have here as introduction to all this, I fell out of love with the style of artwork very quickly. Exceedingly cartoonish, I never was convinced by any of the unicorns, and never felt them to have anything like the power or threat or magic the text says they have. But it was my experience with books like this that never meant that text fell out of favour with me. I could tell the build-up was over-lengthy and sustained too long, but just the pleasure of what followed was enough to convince me this series has legs. Now we know what's what, any sequels – and the first as I write is not exactly far away – will be an easily-read, gallumphing great glory. And if they're not, something very disappointing and awkward will have got in the way.
All in all, this was a book where I hesitated more than most about my ultimate star rating. Should I mark it down for the clumsy look, or for the font changes that will alienate dyslexic audiences? Should I boost the grade for the potential the series as a whole will have? In the end four stars feels like a fine compromise – what flaws are here are easily over-looked, and the right reader will just not stop in their impatient demand for further episodes to come. I must thank the publishers for my review copy, and mark myself down as one of those eager to see if all the signs of positive experiences in the future are justified.
With this being on the younger end of 'Confident Readers' as a category, I would suggest A Tricky Kind of Magic by Nigel Baines as a great title with which to fill in the gap to that second Secret Beast Club book.
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