Cover Image: Otherland

Otherland

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Member Reviews

Aimed at the middle-grade audience, this fast-paced, fantasy adventure is complete with twists and turns. Bringing readers suspense, drama and humour. I highly recommend Otherland, an extremely engaging read that truly deserves 5 out of 5 stars!

Thank you Nosy Crow and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Otherland by Louie Stowell.

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A great read for those who love their fantasy to have a lot of magic as part of the mix. It is aimed at the middle grade audience and is full of danger, adventure and friendship, as the two main characters face many challenges, in order to save a sibling. If you love books such as The Unmapped Chronicles, or Malamander, then you are going to love this.

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Myra and Rohan celebrate their birthday together every year, because it also happens to be the day they died. Myra always wants their party to go off with a bang and this year her antics end in disaster when Rohan’s baby sister is taken by a fairy queen as a changeling. With the help of a ‘fairy godmother’, Myra and Rohan travel to Otherland and take on three impossible challenges to win his sister back.

I loved this funny take on a fairytale – full of quirkiness and a lot of silliness that children will love. This was a quick read that would be perfect for year 4 up, providing a good deal of humour and fun throughout. The plot was perfectly paced with plenty of suspense and drama alongside the funny parts.

Myra is a bit of a free spirit, seemingly with very few boundaries at home and she initially seems to like her life and this lack of control from her mum. However, quickly it turns out that Myra feels that maybe her life in the real world isn’t what she thought it was. She was an interesting character and I enjoyed seeing her dilemmas and thoughtful questions about whether that lack of boundaries showed her mum caring. Rohan, on the other hand, has a completely different life and the pair complement each other well. Side character fairy godmother Mab is fabulously bonkers and completely unexpected in the way she reacts to everything.

All in all, Otherland is a twisty turny sort of fairytale with a real sense of good versus evil and some excellently evil fairies making very unfair decisions!

A quick and fun tale that will be loved by many children, 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Nosy Crow for providing an e-book review copy.

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Otherland was an magical fantasy tale that was well written and engaging!

The writing was engaging and had a sense of magic in it. The plot in itself was unique and exciting! The world building was amazingly done and the descriptions of the unusual fairies was brilliant! I found Myra to be a bit annoying as a main character but other than that this was a brilliant read!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the E-arc! All opinions are my own.

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A funny, quirky and drama-filled read, which offers a fresh take on an age-old genre. Otherland is a worthy addition to the world of ‘fairytales’. The narrative style is fresh and interesting, lending itself well to an extremely random story with mad-cap characters and constant peril. It would be a welcome addition to any classroom bookshelf from Year 4 upwards.

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I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Nosy Crow in return for an honest review.

Myra and Rohan's lives have been intertwined since the day that they were born, which was also the day they both died...briefly...before being brought back to life. Due to this miraculous event, they have always had shared birthday parties. However, these have not always been the most successful events. Myra feels that Rohan is grown up before his time and could do with a little more excitement in his life. In Rohan's opinion, Myra tends to take what adults say too literally and although she doesn't break rules, she bends them beyond all recognition and takes far more risks than he is comfortable with.

When one of Myra's not so great ideas goes disasterously wrong, the pair are sent inside to check on Rohan's little sister, Shilpa. This is when they discover that she has been taken by the Fairy Queen of the Otherland. Desperate to save her, they enter this dangerous magical world and embark on a quest to complete three challenges in order to rescue Shilpa. Myra and Rohan must put aside their differences and work together, or they will all be trapped in the Otherland forever.

This is a version of the classic story of 'faires steal a child', 'heros complete a quest to win child back' but 'fairies don't play fair'. The story has a modern feel to it and the different reactions that Myra and Rohan have to being sucked into a magical world provide a great mix of humour and tension. Each of the challenges are cleverly thought out and give both characters a chance to shine and also moments to struggle and confront their fears.

An interesting question posed by this story, which is different to many other quest stories of this type, is, what if someone doesn't want to complete the challenges and return home? Would it really be so bad if you had to stay in this world? Throughout the story Myra is grappling with this issue as she comes to terms what her life is actually like in the real world. There's an important message here about toxic positivity and it's ok to admit when things aren't going great rather than pretending things are always fine.

I really enjoyed my time reading this book and I would definitely recommend it to readers aged 8+ who like fantasy adventure stories.

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It took me a while to get into this book, the story at first seemed slightly confusing and jumped about a bit. After a while, as I grew accustomed to the style I began to enjoy it very much. It has similarities to classic Enid Blyton stories with fairies and magical lands, furniture that moves and children that get up to crazy escapades. It is a fast paced story and is a brilliant bit of escapism.

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I just finished #Otherland by @Louiestowell. Love Mab & the kids, the dialogue was funny but there was real peril at some points! Such an imaginative story, with fairies that acted like I think fairies should. @NosyCrow sent me a proof but this fab #UKMG #fantasy is already out! https://t.co/iCVCZg8XS0

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Amazon and the Twittersphere kept suggesting to me that as I enjoyed Kirsty Applebaum’s “Life and Time of Lonny Quicke” that I ought to read this too. While both are magical/folklore-ish tales they are very different. But equally good!

I’ve never been interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons/Middle Earth Role Playing type games, but if I was going to, I’d want to do it for real in Otherland!

Myra and Rohan are linked by their birthday, and dramatic events through their lives, which lead to the Fairy Queen being able to open a door between fairyland and the mortal realm. Accompanied by Mab, their self-appointed Fairy Godmother, Myra and Rohan head off to Otherland.

With just the right level of suspense, fear and drama for middle grade fiction, and a fantastically developed fairyland and in-between world, Otherland hits the mark perfectly. It’s engagingly written, flows and resolves well too. Good stuff!

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Perfect for fans of Land or Roar! Otherwise packs in the giggles and thrills. My class is going to love it!

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Fairyland as you've never seen it before! This madcap fantasy adventure feels very different to anything else out there right now. The fairies that steal the child away in this story are unnervingly nihilistic but also really kind of cool which is how the main character Myra feels about them. There's never a dull moment in this book, it's full of wonder and invention and there's a refreshing lack of obvious messaging too. I think kids are going to love it!

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I love a book with a really good setting and this has a very detailed world.

Otherland is a fantasy story about a baby girl, Shilpa, who's taken by the fairy queen. Two friends participate in the deadly Knight Games to win her back. But this is a world with no logic and you don't know what is real...

At first the lack of logic was a bit confusing, but I soon got used to it. And I liked how the two characters are always arguing at the start but by the end of the book they are very good friends.

Loads of bits were very funny and made me laugh - a lot!

(review by Alma, 10)

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A wonderful book that explores friendships, especially when these friendships get a bit complicated. Rohan’s little sister has been taken to Otherland by the queen of the fairies and it is up to him and his friend Myra to rescue her. They engage in a battle of wills in order to try and rescue Shilpa.

A fast paced adventure, perfect for younger readers looking for a really good, fun time.

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If the Lego Movie was a book, it would be this gloriously random creation! Portals & perilous quests introduce us to fairies, changelings, gods & dragons. Witty retorts reveal the true meaning of friendship & individuality. Otherland is full of twists and turns and kids will love the madcap craziness of it all, I certainly did!

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