Kip is back at Quicksmiths and after discovering the Ark and escaping from Gorvak in his first year, you'd think he has time for a rest. However he and his friends feel like they are no closer to discovering Eartha Quicksmith's secrets and they won't stop until they do!
This is an amazing adventure through seemingly endless worlds. The descriptions of all the different worlds sounded so exciting and interesting, though I wouldn't want to find myself in most of them. I also love reading about the wonderful inventions which are created. For example, being able to jump into someone's dream would be fascinating.
As in book 1, the author has added some puzzles for the reader into the pages so you can get involved as you read.

Having absolutely loved The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith,  I couldn't miss the opportunity to read The Myriad Mysteries of Eartha Quicksmith and I was not disappointed. Huge thank you to NetGalley and Firefly Press for this e-ARC to review. It was lovely to be back at Quicksmiths with Kip, Albert, Leela, Timmi and of course Pinky.
In this exciting instalment, our intrepid friends -  Team Glowflyer-  have yet another of Eartha Quicksmith's puzzles to solve. Their 'Dreambomber' invention leads to a discovery where the team becomes split with Kip and Timmi becoming lost in a myriad of different worlds and Albert and Leela race to reconnect with their friends. Will they be able to rescue their friends from the Myriad Pirates and safely bring them home and will the team solve Eartha's new riddles? This is a fast paced sequel to the first book filled with adventure, oodles of inventions and friendship and an ending that is a real heart burst. The action starts immediately and what follows is a roller coaster reading ride.
A brilliantly engaging and memorable 5 star read.

I loved this book since I saw the cover. The Ten Riddles of Earth Quicksmith was enjoyable and compelling, this is even better and I was glad to catch up with the characters.
It can be appreciated by children and adults and I had fun in reading it.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Brilliantly mind-boggling!

Four students at a school for the study of Strange Energies venture into parallel worlds that bend time and space, with only their brains and bravery to save them.

Book 2 in a truly fantastical sci-fi series powered by wild imagination and a whole lot of heart

It feels like a long time ago since I read The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith - the brilliant debut novel by Loris Owen, released in September 2020. But my eager wait for the second in the series has been well worth it. Packed full of adventure, mysteries and world-jumping, Kip and his crew find themselves embroiled in a dangerous quest.

With the recently discovered 'Ark of Ideas' remaining unfathomable, Kip, Albert, Timmi and Leela are baffled as to how they can continue Eartha' Quicksmith's mission. But when their 'Dreambomber' invention leads to a discovery, Kip and Timmi find themselves plunged into a myriad of different worlds. Trying to find their way home, they stumble upon the next pieces of the puzzle. But can they elude the Myriad Pirates long enough to fulfil their quest and will they ever be reunited with Albert and Leela?

This is one action-packed, amazingly plotted novel. Loris Owen's imagination and in-depth creation is extraordinary, bringing together riddles, puzzles and mystery with fairly complex science and technology. After the set-up in the first novel, here we are thrown immediately into the action - be prepared to keep up!

Whereas Book One reminded me very much of the first Harry Potter story where the three children solve puzzles to find the philosopher's stone, this novel has more of a Strangeworlds Travel Agency aspect to it, although it remains a very different story. There is slightly less emphasis on the riddles and more on the Myriad worlds and the children's own inventions. The world-building is exquisite, as is the attention to detail, and you immediately know that there is a very big picture to this quest, with far more exciting stuff still to come.

Kip remains an amiable main character who has a deep fragility, really making him a protagonist to root for. In this novel, there is far less emphasis on his family's personal circumstances, which very much drove the internal arc of book one. However, the final dream scene is truly touching and brings back Kip's heartbreak with full force. I love the power of teamwork between the four children and their professors and how everyone plays a valuable part in the mission. In fact, the characters and plot keep us so capitavated that there is only a slight touch of villainy, which grows stronger at the end.

Science and technology were my two weakest subjects at school, occasionally leading me to be put off by complicated and technical plots involving the theory of time travel, dreams and world matter. However, Loris Owen has made the world of Eartha Quicksmith so engaging, lively and imaginative that these threads of the novel literally jump of the page, infecting the reader with their crackling energy (or should I say 'strange energy'). It's magical in a different way to other comparison novels and it's definitely a series I want to reread in order to get the most out of it. Highly original and memorable, this is definitely something special.

A big thanks to Netgalley and Firefly Press for allowing me a review copy. The Myriad Mysteries of Eartha Quicksmith is out now.

Kip is a student a Quicksmiths College of Strange Energy, a very special school where the kids study magical energies, and the school’s research is based on the work and discoveries of Eartha Quicksmith, a genius who lived four hundred years earlier. But where you have magical and incredible items, or even cryptic clues to discovering them, you also attract villains who wish to acquire these same items.
Full disclosure – I didn’t realise this was the second book in the series until I started it. The story opens with a visit by our protagonist Kip and best friend Albert to Professor Streampunk’s lab, full of hovering drones, an ark of ideas that looks like a black parrot, waves of Strange Energy, and a professor who blew up his arms in an experiment only to build himself four new ones. It’s a crazy, hugely imaginative, fun world, and I really enjoyed the adventures of Kip and his friends as they attempt to unravel Eartha’s clues to her greatest inventions and discoveries, which takes an unexpected turn when Kip and his friend Timmi fall among the myriads…
The friends’ camaraderie is endearing, I loved Pinky the squirrel and the mowl, who is some kind of otter-bird of prey mix created by an experiment going wrong…I think! The kids have wonderful miniature flying carpets they call Skimmis, which they have made themselves as part of their classes, which I envied.
I strongly recommend reading book one first. I caught up very easily on the world, but it would be more fun to discover it with Kip, especially as it is a high concept fantasy. Also, the second book gives away much of the plot of the first (for good reason). I thought the story was a little slow to get going, which I didn’t mind because it helped me really get into this world, but I also didn’t realise at first that puzzle solving is a big element (which I would know if I had read book 1). For me, much as I enjoyed the early part of the book, the story really took off once Kip and Timmi fall into the first of the alternative myriads.
Overall a hugely imaginative fun story which I totally recommend.

We enjoyed the first book but this one is even better. Lots of adventure and puzzles. The children really got into the story, later they all pretended to be the characters and I was really pleased when they all went back to their respective homes. My youngest granddaughter 'just' wants a flying squirrel for her birthday. The ones she usually watches in the garden are now boring apparently even if they do climb along the washing line.

Eartha Quicksmith's damaged parrot shaped Ark is struggling to reveal its secrets, but Kip and his ingenious friends are still eager to solve the mystery and find the treasures hidden by the Renaissance genius over 400 years ago. Meanwhile, Leela and Timmi have been experimenting with the Dreambomber, which allows them to enter the dreams of others, including Kip's flying squirrel and the accidentally created Mowl, and Kip seems to have an admirer, new first year Iris, who is very persistent. Whilst looking for solution to their latest clue, a bizarre accident sends Kip and Timmi into different myriads, where they are propelled into a frantic, dangerous quest for the Futurescope, Eartha's most important invention and Albert and Leela try desperately to rescue them. At the same time, mysterious holes are appearing in the fabric of the school, and someone seems to be messing with time...
Frenetic, funny and exciting, and set in a beautifully described world that stands where magic meets science fiction, this novel is enthralling and supremely entertaining. Within this fantasy world with its memorable and often eccentric characters, the target audience will identify with Kip and Albert especially, ordinary children plunged into a world far removed from the reality of their home life. What stands out most, however, is the credibility of the relationships between the four friends and Kip's feelings for his family. I loved this book and I am sure the readers in our school library will be queuing up to read it.

It scarcely seems possible that I read the title preceding this one – The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith – about two years ago. Since that book was published, it has been one I have been delighted to have in my little library and one which has held those who have chosen to read it absolutely spellbound, as I was all those months ago. Most recently, one of my more confident Year 5 readers devoured it in a couple of evenings and when I told him that there was soon to be a sequel, he was thrilled.

With shades of Dr Who, The Strangeworlds Travel Agency series and a whole host of other stories I have read and loved, this is another bold, imaginative and highly entertaining adventure for our hero Kip Bramley, after he was invited to join the Quicksmiths College of Strange Energy in Book 1 and successfully solved an assortment of riddles and puzzles on his quest to find a mysterious hidden treasure accompanied by furry friend Pinky the flying squirrel.

After the excitement of their previous adventure, Kip and Pinky, together with best friend Albert, go to visit Professor Steampunk, who is experimenting on the Ark of Ideas – a 400-year-old artefact belonging to Eartha Quicksmith after whom the college has been named. Bringing the professor biscuits, the boys ask him if the Ark has revealed any secrets other than muttering about the crazy paving as they arrived and are told that there appears to be some residual energy within it, which he plans to investigate further.

Following their visit, Kip and Albert meet up with friends Leela and Timmi, and Leela explains her new Dreambomber invention to them – a device which allows the user to visit other people’s dreams and is nearing completion. Testing it out later on Pinky, Kip and the others are amazed to see the little creature’s reaction to having her dreams influenced by her visitor and Leela reassures him that unwelcome guests will not be allowed access to the sleeper’s mind.

But it is not long before the foursome’s attentions are turned elsewhere, when they investigate another one of Eartha Quicksmith’s possessions, which in turn leads them to another of her riddles – this time one which mentions paving. Making a connection between this and the Ark, the friends find themselves once more trying to decipher the clues that have been left for them. However, when Kip and Timmi become transported into another world with no discernible way back, they will need all of their assorted skills and talents to solve new riddles and mysteries, if they are ever to return back home…

Having established the characters and the setting of the college so perfectly in Book 1, the author takes us on the most incredible journey beyond its walls in this second outing. Building on the science of Strange Energy, to which we were introduced previously, and the seemingly limitless talents of Eartha Quicksmith, who has set everything in place for Kip and the others to unravel, this is a stunning sequel which delivers everything that I had hoped in the way of further puzzles, action and hints of more to come in Book 3 – and possibly beyond.

By not pairing Kip with his best friend Albert but with Timmi when they accidentally find themselves transported away from Quicksmiths, we see Kip’s ability to adapt to whatever life throws at him come to the fore. Both highly intelligent, and equipped with very different abilities and skill sets, the two of them make a great team of equals – something that will go a long way to showing young readers that both girls and boys are capable of stepping up when called upon and have much to offer, practically speaking and in terms of friendship.

With enough of the backstory woven through the text, you do not need to have read Book 1 to pick this up, but I think that to fully appreciate the breath-taking inventiveness of the plot and what came before it is probably better to read the books in sequence. Perfect for Year 5 readers upwards, this is a title I cannot wait to see sitting on my little library shelf when it publishes on July 7th, giving you ample time to read Ten Riddles, should you need to, and to pre-order this. Huge thanks must go to publisher Firefly Press and Net Galley for my advance virtual read ahead of that date.

A quick, easy read that I think cjildren will love. I read it in one sitting and it definitely felt like something I would have loved and found engaging as a kid.

So fun and exciting!

After Ten Riddles, things at Quicksmiths get bigger and more deadly than ever. There are two main additions into this thrilling world of science marvels so mind boggling they feel like magic. First we have the Myriad, a series of parallel worlds, a multiverse. This has long been a staple of fantastic storytelling and is really well handled here. Travelling between worlds feels chaotic and dangerous but so very exciting. Secondly, there's the dreamscape, and an invention that allows people to enter the dreams of sleepers.
Both are introduced into the mad science of Quicksmiths very naturally, and they feel like a great fit for this world.
Neither idea is original, on its own. Multiverses are seeing a new wave of superhero powered popularity and questions about existence in dreams have been famously asked by Lewis Carroll among, I'm sure, many others. But what Myriad Mysteries does exceptionally well is to combine the two ideas in a way that feels fresh and original, something I don't think I've seen before, and this is a remarkable achievement.
There are so many other things to like about this story. The relationships between the children, and their attitudes towards their remarkable school, feel strong and real. There's an adorable and funny collection of animal companions to cheer for.
There are horrible enemies presenting a very real feeling of threat, and a rising sense of peril and suspicion within the school itself that had me doubting and mistrusting several characters, both pupils and staff. There's also one character I absolutely cheered to see turn up.

Myriad Mysteries of Eartha Quicksmiths is exciting, dynamic and filled with puzzles and mysteries. I can't wait for more!