Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds
Jeremy Lachlan
Jane Doe and the Cradle of All Worlds
Jeremy Lachlan
Winner of Book of the Year for Older Children (13+) at the 2019 ABIA Awards
When a fierce quake strikes the remote island of Bluehaven, and her father disappears, Jane Doe is thrown headfirst into an epic quest to bring him home.
But this ain’t no ordinary rescue mission. Her father is lost in a place between worlds; a dangerous labyrinth of shifting rooms, infernal booby traps and secret gateways. And Jane has to find him fast, because someone else is searching for him, too. A man who knows her father’s secrets. A man who has an army.
With a pyromaniac named Violet and the enigmatic Hickory by her side, Jane is about to discover that this adventure is even bigger on the inside than it looks …
This is the blockbuster adventure the worlds have been waiting for.
Review
Dani Solomon
Jane Doe has grown up in the basement of a couple who hate her; with a bedridden dad who’s incapable of communication; in a town that regularly burns effigies of her; and her only friend is the 8-year-old pyromaniac daughter of her reluctant landlords.
With a life like this you can be forgiven for greeting every unwanted challenge flung at you with a smart-alec comment, which is something Jane Doe does to great aplomb. Her exasperated bluntness made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion and Jeremy Lachlan does a good job of acknowledging the frustrating tropes of children’s fantasy without ever making the book or characters seem self-aware, or even changing them.
When Jane snaps at the tight-lipped maybe-bad guy to drop the mystery guy act and just tell her his big secret already I cheered! How often have you read a fantasy book and thought the exact same thing? It’s a completely natural reaction and very refreshing to read. And on top of all this there is a fantastic fast-paced exciting adventure set in a magical labyrinth of a manor with rooms that shift, booby traps and a classic bad guy who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. I highly recommend this book for kids 11+.
Dani Solomon is the assistant manager at Readings Kids.
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