A world of faeries, leprechauns and dragons – and magic fuelled by the blood of trees. A mystery portal to the Real World.
And a pair of curious young adventurers who know they shouldn’t step through it…
Meet Fergal the Second, nicknamed ‘two’. Or ‘Doe’, in his own language. He can do magic. But, for the moment, he’s forgotten where he’s from. Or what’s happened to his blind friend Ruby.
He’s actually from Tir na Nog, the enchanted world of Shadowmagic, where a new generation of the royal House of Duir are cheeking their parents, preparing for adulthood and itching to see the Real World for themselves – whatever the peril.
JOHN LENAHAN, whose Shadowmagic trilogy sold more than 100,000 copies, takes us back to his enchanted parallel world where Irish folk myth combines with lively 21st-century banter.
The first in the new trilogy, Son of Shadow, takes up the story in the next generation. It opens in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where teenage princeling Doe – son of the hero of the original trilogy – is arrested for making a gold coin disappear at a magicians’ convention. He has lost his memory while following his abducted friend Ruby into the Real World.
Born in Philadelphia but long settled in the UK, Lenahan is an acclaimed magician and TV performer. He fronted his own BBC2 magic series Stuff the White Rabbit, played the voice of the toaster in Red Dwarf and has appeared on a wide range of entertainment shows including TFI Friday, Comedy Café and Celebrity Squares.
He is a member of the exclusive Magic Circle.
My thoughts: incorporating characters and beings from Irish mythology, this is a fun, YA, adventure story about family, friendship and magic. Doe can’t remember who he is or where he’s from but he knows he’s supposed to do something. Incarcerated in the mental hospital, he meets Sarah, who can see the future. Together they travel across America in search of answers.
Moving back and forth in time and between worlds, the story is gradually revealed. Doe is in fact a faerie prince from Tir na Nog, and on a mission to rescue his kidnapped friend Ruby. He just didn’t tell his parents all the details. Luckily they’re more worried about saving Ruby and the new Big Bad – a human sorceress and her ally, who they all thought was dead, than grounding Doe.
This was a fun romp across America, with Sarah trying to explain the Real World to Doe, who has never even eaten pizza before, let alone dealt with money, trans-continental buses or well, anything. He meets some helpful, and some very unhelpful, people along the way, searching for legendary Irish hero Cu Chulainn, who he hopes can help him rescue Ruby.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 
Fab review!
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