David Baldacci is one of my favourite authors and I loved all of his books, so I was really interested to see a young adult fantasy book by him.

Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery was also previously published as The Finisher.

However this is completely different to anything he has ever written and is a science fiction dystopian adventure about 14 year old Vega Jane from Wormwood with monsters and magical powers

David has created a new language in this book, but, so you need to read the intro first, and even after that its a a bit confusing to remember and definitely isn't anything like Roald Dahl's unique language..

Not at all what I was expecting at all, and it missed the mark for me with wugs, wugmorts, quags etc so I will definitely stick with his adult thrillers which are all brilliant.

David Baldacci has worked very hard to create a fantasy world for his readers. Vega Jane and the Secrets of Sorcery is an incredibly complex book: there is a different language used and the plot is very dense with constant cliff-hangers and unexpected reveals.

The book was previous published as The Finisher and has been edited for a younger audience. For me, it sadly doesn’t work as a MG text - I would say it certainly isn’t suitable for primary school readers. Whilst there are some rather graphic references to violence, the problem lies with the complexity of the story. Even as an adult reader, I found it somewhat of a challenge. It feels like every thought the author had was included. Too little time is given to explain or dwell upon what should be significant events - it just becomes a series of bizarre twists, with little development or explanation. This leaves the reader feeling confused and disconnected from the plot. It is also a very long book.

The characters, particularly the protagonist, are quite well developed though there are too many minor characters - with strange names - to keep track of. I was interested to see where the author was going and there is potential in the story but it needs to be edited and reduced significantly for it to work for a younger audience.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.