The Polar Bear Explorers' Club: Alex Bell: 1 (The Explorers' Clubs)

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Stella Starflake Pearl has been eagerly awaiting her next adventure, ever since she and Felix returned from the Snowy Icelands. She fears, however, that she might never be sent on another expedition, especially since the president of the Polar Bear Explorers’ Club himself is afraid of her ice princess powers. But when disaster strikes and Felix is snatched by a fearsome witch, Stella and the rest of the junior explorers—including a reluctant new ally from the Jungle Cat Explorers’ Club—must set off into the unknown on a forbidden journey to the top of Witch Mountain. To that end she eagerly started a Law Degree only to find it so boring that she was at a very real risk of going completely insane. To mitigate this she started writing again. The second book got her an agent with Carolyn Whitaker of London Independent Books but, unfortunately, not a publisher. The third book, written during her first summer holidays off from university, found a home with Gollancz. The Ninth Circle came out in April 2008 with possibly the most beautiful cover ever created (matched only by her second book, Jasmyn).

It’s a great pity that we all spend so much time trying to be exactly the same when, in fact, we should be celebrating those things that make us different and uniquely ourselves.“

Trotzdem fand ich die Geschichte supercool und irgendwie niedlich, sie ist auch unglaublich kreativ geschrieben/gestaltet, so wie schon Band 1. Hauptprotagonistin ist auch hier wieder das Mädchen Stella Starflake Pearl. Sie habe ich bereits im Auftakt unheimlich liebgewonnen. Ich liebe ihre mutige, abenteuerlustige und selbstbewusste Art. Im ersten Band hatten wir erfahren, was das große Geheimnis ihrer Herkunft ist. Stella ist dies bezüglich nach wie vor ziemlich verwirrt und versucht mit ihren neuen magischen Fähigkeiten klarzukommen. Wovon ich auch wieder hellauf begeistert bin, ist das Setting! Die vielen fantastischen Orte, die wir zusammen mit unseren Buchhelden aufsuchen werden, werden so grandios und atemberaubend beschrieben – einfach nur klasse. Kopfkino pur, sag ich euch! Von der Hexeninsel hatte ich die tollsten Bilder im Kopf und auch davor, als wir mit Stella und ihren Freunden durch die Lüfte fliegen, war ich komplett verzaubert von der Kulisse. Was ich nur wieder ein wenig vermisste habe, ist eine Karte vorne oder hinten im Buch, die die wichtigsten Orte zeigt. Die hätte ich bei dieser Reihe irgendwie nicht schlecht gefunden. Aber dank der bildhaften Beschreibungen kann man sich, wie bereits erwähnt, natürlich auch so alles ganz genau vorstellen. all those mistakes and wrong turns are how we find out who we really are, deep down. It´s how wie strengthen our souls.

One of those casually erudite children’s books that does not treat children as kiddywinks, The Murderer’s Ape follows the saga of Sally Jones – a mechanically gifted seafarer who happens to be an ape – and her attempts to clear the name of her human friend, falsely accused of murder. Despite the beautiful illustrations, we are near the top of the age range here: parents might be asked to explain why a maharajah might have concubines, and why a sensible woman might be in love with someone who leaves her with bruises.As well as the (excellent) characters I also liked the many great adventures they went on and how they thought of ways to get out of the problems they got into, by using the knowledge they were gifted from their parents. Now I may not be the intended age range of this book * ahem* but there’s something for everyone here. And a good book is a good book whatever age you read it ! Eine Karte gibt es also leider nicht in dem Buch, aber dafür befinden sich an den Kapitelanfängen wieder wunderschöne schwarz-weiß Illustrationen von Iacopo Bruno. Ich bin total verliebt in die Zeichnungen. Sie bereiten einen schon mal ein bisschen auf das Geschehen der jeweiligen Kapitel vor und schaffen eine ganz besondere Atmosphäre. Not one to learn from past experience, Alex started the Legal Practice Course in London. There she met some great people and had a lot of fun messing about during lessons that were clearly meant to be extremely solemn affairs. Thankfully, she dropped out just before the point where all students must submit to the personality-removing process that is a compulsory part of being an esteemed member of the legal profession.

This was an extremely fun follow-up story to the Polar Bear Explorers' Club. And this one has even more adventure and danger than before. We follow Stella and her new friends on an adventure to the infamous Witch Mountain, where few other explorers dare to tread. I enjoyed the first installment immensely (Krysta did not, and you can read her review here), and my assessment of The Forbidden Expedition is nearly the same. The premises are actually somewhat similar, in that protagonist Stella and company go on a journey in icy unexplored territory that many people think they should not go on because it’s too dangerous. This book, however, introduces witches, which were not prominent in book one. I absolutely loved this book and the others. I think they're really imaginative and amazing. It's my favourite book! Unfortunately, now i cant find a book that's nearly as good as this.This book has so many twists and turns from this point I won't try to summarize them all. Read and enjoy the ride, literally! Without her ice tiara she's powerless, but her guardian Felix and polar bear Gruff save the day -- and her. She makes it inside the Club and Felix won't let her out again, not until he can bring the witch that killed Stella's parents to justice.