Which Way to Anywhere is such a fun novel!

It has a fairly familiar concept at its heart. Magic is real and can be used to open doorways between different worlds. This is a longstanding fantasy trope, that's played with very effectively here by Cressida Cowell. These doorways are opened by drawings of maps, as long as they are done by someone with the right magical gift. The only problem is there hasn't been anyone with that gift for centuries, so someone born with the gift of creating an atlas like that would be both incredibly dangerous and incredibly valuable.

And would you believe there's a young child here on Earth with that very planet?

That's the cue for a thrilling adventure for five young children from the same family, though two of them have a mother and a missing father, another two have a father and no mother, and baby Annipeck shares one parent with all of them, as they are variously assisted and chased across different worlds by a robot assassin, a Grimm bounty hunter, a substitute geography teacher who might be a pirate, various robot assistants and a great and terrible beast!

It's non-stop thrilling action, told with wit and charm. I loved the way Pinch the robot mangles all of his words up. The jungle world felt very scary and dangerous, and the ambiguous nature of many of the supporting characters was fun and kept me guessing. There's a very strong narrative voice throughout, giving little insights into the worlds and what's going on that I really enjoyed a lot, and Cressida clearly had fun playing with the narrative structure of the book, opening on a dramatic and terrifying sequence and then returning us to a safer time (for now). The magic use was exciting and fascinating, a blend of magic and technology that I found really intriguing, and there's a moral issue at the heart of the novel that really makes the reader question their assumptions.

This is a book about magic and amazing technology and different worlds and the impacts our careless actions can have. But it is more than that. It is a book about family.

The O'Heros and the Smiths are two families that have suddenly found themselves as one family. There's a lot of hurt and animosity there and it really shows. But through the course of this lovely book we see them grow and change and it really is heart-warming to see. There's a lot of emotional depth in there, and I'm sure there'll be many children out there like Izzy, planning on getting rid of a stepfather and stepbrother, or like Mable, who secretly like their new family but have to hide it from an older brother who doesn't, or like Annipeck who is part of both sides of this new family. It's cleverly and beautifully done.

Which Way to Anywhere is a fun, thrilling many-worlds fantasy with magic and technology and a whole lot of heart.

LOVED this wild and wonderful, twisty turny sci fi adventure. My kids were hooked and can't stop talking about it. Cressida Cowell is a masterful world-builder and Which Way To Anywhere is now a firm favourite. She's got us all drawing Alternative Atlases!

‘Which Way to Anywhere’ is the first in a brand new series by Cressida Cowell. I was lucky enough to get pre publication copies of the book on NetGalley and as a proof, so got to see some of the illustrations too. This book transported me to magical lands and I didn’t want to leave, I was so transfixed with Cressida’s writing.
The blended family of Smith O’Hero isn’t working for the four children. They all have problems with each other and make life very difficult for their parents, not helped by Daniel Smith (father/stepfather) being their headmaster.
The book starts with a scene towards the end of the story, and all becomes clear as you read further in. We don’t know who the mysterious person telling us the story is, and that adds to the drama (we find out at the end, don’t worry!) K2 can draw wonderful, magical maps, Annipeck (although just a baby) has powerful magical skills, Theo invents cool stuff, and Mabel and Izzabird are the organisers and doers of the group. The children have been brought through a Which Way to the world of Excelsiar. This is a world full of dangerous plants, animals and weird monsters, and the children need to work together to save Annipeck, which proves problematic.
There are also people to deal with - Horizabel, a bounty hunter, The Excoriator, a very scary monster, Cyril Sidewinder, a pirate disguised as their geography teacher who steals Annipeck, mechanical robots, aunts on vacuum cleaners and a missing father.
I laughed, I gasped in shock, I raced through this book, wanting to find out what happens to the children and whether all turns out well. I really recommend it for readers of Year 4 upwards, it will thrill and delight. I’m so pleased that there will be more adventures for K2, Izzy, Theo, Mabel and Annipeck and I look forward to book 2.

Another incredible adventure from Cressida Cowell full of wonder, and imagination. Alongside her unique drawing style which always seems to burst with energy and fun, this is the most mesmerising excitement and I loved it.

Once again Cressida Cowell shows why she's such a popular writer for children.

Which way to Anywhere is new story. It centres around the rather mixed up O'Hero/Smith blended family. K2 and his sister, Izzabird are the descendants of the magical O'Hero family, who have been joined in their rather unique and strange home by Theo and Mabel Smith. The two sets of children are struggling to get along and adjust to being a family when a substitute geography teacher/intergalactic pirate suddenly gives the children a strange map drawing task. This sets off a bizarre chain of events that sets the children on an adventure to a planet millions of miles away from Earth.

The story is fun, at times insane and full of heart. There were many characters, both good and bad, in this novel. My personal favourite was baby Annipeck and her special brand of magic. Children will enjoy this book, but as an adult I felt the characters weren't as developed as they could have been, mainly due to the huge cast of characters in a short novel. There are several villains, pirates, beasts, a missing father, a dog, a bounty hunter and aunts and mums to be saved. All in all, a massive assortment of characters with the Cowell trademark strange names to recall throughout.

The novel deals with themes of adjusting to a new blended family and also touches upon ecological and environmental issues. It does give you a warm and fuzzy feeling towards the end. I'm hoping that the adventures of the family continue, but perhaps the focus should be on one child per book in order for their character to really develop. It's a book I'll certainly purchase to read with my own children.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review.

I absolutely LOVED Which Way to Anywhere!
It has family, friendship, magic, robots and Cressida Cowell's unique writing style. It's a fantastic start to a brand new series. I'm really looking forward to seeing what these children all get up to next.
The idea of an alternative atlas is brilliant and really unique.