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Saturday, April 26, 2008

A Spanish Author Writes GRREAT YA Fantasy

Title: Ivan of Aldenuri: The Forest of the Taurocs
Author: J.P. Foncea
Translator: Stephen Caro

Publisher and/or Distributor: Cambridge Brick House, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.cbhbooks.com

Pages: 261
ISBN: 978-1-59835-058-6
Price: $19.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts


This is an excellent YA fantasy written by a lawyer in Spain and translated by a successful actor in England with lots of stage play translation experience.

Twelve-year-old Ivan discovers a medal in a hollow tree. Shortly afterwards, Ivan discovers he can float and fly. His new ability helps protect his community by allowing him to spot sea raiders. Ironically, they manage to kidnap him for a ransom effort later on.
An attack by sea monsters helps break him away from captivity and he flies away from the raiders’ ships to a land far away from his home. There, he becomes involved in saving new friends and communities from horrific monster Taurocs (a cross between bulls and dinosaurs). In the meantime, Ivan’s home community is being asked for a huge ransom by the sea raiders, even though they have lost Ivan.

This is a cleanly written and exciting story for young adults. We especially liked the emphasis on instinctively doing the right thing, no matter how frightened you are. We scored this five hearts.

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