Matt McAvoy Book Review

The second instalment in Irene Edwards’s Magic Islands series of books for 8-12-year-old children, and I have to say that, in my opinion, this is something of an altogether slightly darker offering – not so much in its content, but rather the environmental message.  In the first book, the message was clear: we should care for and respect our oceans; but in Chaos in the Cosmos, the world is literally burned by those mean Purple Wizards, who have accelerated global warming in revenge for their exile.  Still fun and entertaining for your kids, though you may find on this occasion they will be asking you more serious questions than they were in the first offering.  Of course, it is an incredibly important topic and one they need to be aware of, and Irene does a superb job of making the book more enjoyable than a simple environmental lecture.

I felt this was a little more mature than its predecessor – think later Harry Potter or The Empire Strikes Back; indeed, you may want to impose a PG-certificate on this book.  It is nice and wholesome enough, but just be prepared to explain some of the ways of the world.  The book itself contains Irene’s usual silly characters and vivid, colourful settings.  There are also some great facts about Mars, where the nasty wizards end up.  Again, in this instalment, it is up to reluctant schoolchildren Stefan and Megan, and ancient wizard Ambrosious to save the world and defeat the bad guys, who are really more mischievous than evil. 

I’d recommend this and the first in the series – though of course this is a direct sequel, so they will need to be read in the correct order.  Once again, I should disclose that I helped Irene a little with this book, but my review is genuine, nonetheless, and I recommend this book for perhaps the more mature amongst your younger kids.