Saturday, 16 June 2018

Lucy and the Tunnel by J S Rumble (Children's, 9 years +, 9/10E)

 December 2018, 45 pages, Ebook, Review copy

Book summary
Lucy's family get taken hostage by her mother's step-cousin's half-sister... Wow, that was a mouthful! Using her quick wit Lucy is in the middle of saving the day, but then something goes horribly wrong and she ends up somewhere unexpected. Will she find her way back? Will she save her family? Will her mother's step-cousin's half-sister get her comeuppance?
 
Nayu's thoughts 
The only reason this tale doesn't get full marks is because it was a bit too weird in an Alice in Wonderland type of way. The opening chapter was so unexpected and intriguing that I needed to know what happened next to Lucy and how she could get her family out of the awful situation, despite the weird parts that were enhanced by the illustrations. I wasn't keen on a lot of the story  elements because encountering weirdness rather than everyday events can give me unforgettable dreams, but the style of writing and the inner strength Lucy showed kept me going. She finds herself in places totally alien to the world she knew, yet exploring the worlds was the only way she could find a solution to the terrible problem. 

I liked the characters she meets-Dandelion in particular was sweet, and was a reassuring presence in the chaos. I was divided in opinon of whether I would have liked Lucy to spend a bit more time in the worlds she explored which had little page time, but given some of the summaries I'm glad the tale didn't focus on them. There is humour sprinkled in the story-I grinned when Lucy appeared extremely bedraggled and warned Dandelion not to ask what happened after one particular world exploration, and both wanted and didn't want to know what it could be. I hope there are more adventures for Lucy because despite being quite a short story and extremely weird, I've grown fond of her and simply can't imagine that that's her only adventure.

Keep up to date on J S Rumble's Twitter.  

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