BEFORE THERE WERE PEOPLE, THERE WERE BEASTS . . .

The island of Ramoa was once luscious and populated with mighty beasts. Now though, it is home to barren and tamed cities, where nature is locked out and trouble is brewing.

When Kayla’s beloved animal companion, a rare winged pangron, is stolen, she’s determined to get him back. But to do so, she’ll have to leave her city and journey into the wild and forbidden Beastlands.

There, she meets Rustus, an exiled young warrior, and Alethea, a healer desperately seeking a cure for a mysterious disease. As their quests unite them, they’ll adventure across the lands they know so little about, leading them to discoveries both great and terrifying. Not least that the beasts they’ve always been taught to fear might not be so terrifying after all…

The first instalment in an epic new fantasy adventure series for readers of DRAGON REALM, FIREBORN and SKANDAR AND THE UNICORN THIEF.

Beastlands: Race to Frostfall Mountain is an enchanting children’s magical fantasy adventure with subtle dystopian undertones. The prologue sets up the book nicely with a history of how the island of Ramoa came about and how the islanders now live including the cities and the barren, perilous land called Beastland which is an ominous place fraught with danger.

The book features three main characters, Kayla Karakka, a sky cadet who lives in Sophiatown, and her winged creature Faro, who protects the city. Alethea Bashoa, a healer and botanist from Ataria, and Rustus Fari, a trainee warrior.

The cities don’t trust one another but they must learn to work together when a nasty, mystery disease called The Scourge is released and the people are dying from it.

For children who love fantasy middle-grade novels, this book will hopefully tick all their boxes. It has a riveting fast-paced feel to it and is filled to the brim with action and adventure. The characters are each unique and powerful in their own way and likeable too.

There was a definite air of dystopia within the pages as the island is in ruins, the nature and animals killed, and the place divided into separate walled cities each with their own leader.

Beastlands: Race to Frostfall Mountain has a captivating storyline and I loved the message throughout about looking after nature and what can happen if you don’t. Overall, this is the start of a wonderful, magical series and I can see it being a bit hit with its readers.

Jess loves all animals. She loves the natural world they live in, too. She thinks it is very important that we all work hard to protect the natural world, so she writes books about how we can do that. The books are mainly marketed at a children, but Jess knows that it’s mostly the grown ups that need educating. She hopes that the wonderful children that read her books will be kind enough to educate the silly grown ups they meet about animals, the environment and what we can do to save them.

As well as writing, Jess works as a vet. She once ultrasounded a snow leopard and has also looked inside a crocodile’s stomach! She is sometimes seen on CBeebies talking about minibeasts and also works as a teacher for school groups that are interested in animals and the natural world.