The Slug Queen Chronicles

Creative, inventive, and a title that immediately captured my curiosity. Readers of fantasy and science fiction will enjoy this original novel, and now I want to read more from S.O. Thomas.

Feeling always a little odd seeing colored dust, life of 11 year old Cricket changes when she gets the old journal of her mom for her birthday. Finding out her mom was like her, she tries the experiments mentioned in the book and suddenly everything goes wrong with ending her brother being robbed by a gibber snatch...

The book offers a fun read for middle grade kids with lots of action, betrayal and mystery. But Cricket will find as well new friends and her story will for sure entertain. The book is easy to read, only some names of the creatures can be a bit hard to pronounce for smaller ones. The topic is a bit dark and more mature than you would expect for a children's book, but still ok to read. Readers will sucked into a magical world, where everything is possible. Fun to read together as well.

I'm not really a big fan of middle grade, and that might be because I've outgrown that genre of fiction novels. However, I am a big sucker for anything fey, and this book is full of magic and wonder. The Slug Queen Chronicles gave me massive Alice and Wonderland vibes in the way the different characters were introduced, how they interacted in the various scenes and the mirror imagery of different worlds.

S.O. Thomas' imagination is incredible, and the chapter illustrations are beautiful. They're like a combination of stained glass and mixed media. Made up of vivid colours just like the way the author describes the various senses. The coloured dust that our little protagonist Cricket sees, reminds me also of Synesthesia, a condition that affects one of the senses; for example being able to see colour.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would, and definitely think it would make a great addition to any pre-teen's bookshelf.

I requested and received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and BookGoSocial publishing in exchange for my honest review.

This book starts with Cricket being able to see coloured dust trails around everything that no one else can see, from that point the story only gets weirder. This book was a really fun read; the author did a great job of creating strange creatures in the land of Fae.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wild and crazy ride.

#TheSlugQueenChronicles #NetGalley

4.5 stars

It was amazing! Colorful and full of imagination, with quite a scary premise and a constantly moving story which was never too slow. Beautiful illustrations too!

Cricket is always waiting for her dad to give her something her mom would have liked for her birthday, but this year she receives so much more - her mother's journal. However, she doesn't know that it will bring more trouble than joy. Cricket learns that she is special - not crazy, as she thought before. Cricket seems to be neurodiverse - she has what we could call synaesthesia (I'm just drawing a conclusion, that's not mentioned - as I have synaesthesia myself), except Cricket's is probably more magical! The colored dust she's been seeing all her life turns out to be something her mom saw too. Pretty soon, she decides to do an experiment of something she read in her mom's journal, and... Regrets it, because it wrecks her entire life. And now she's got to go to Fairyland to fix it all. And steal her little brother back.

What follows is a pretty amazing journey through magical lands, ruled by an evil female Santa and inhabited by flying cats and whatnot! I found everything very interesting, and specifically very fresh. It's hard to write a Fairyland that's new - there are just so many Fairyland stories, and yet, I really liked the way this one was written. I have to also say that it was specifically centered around empowering girls. Plus, the twists! Brilliant book, and I definitely would love a part 2 if that's ever in the plans.

Oh, and the illustrations are amazing too!

I thank the publisher for giving me a free copy of the ebook in exchange to my honest review. This has not affected my opinion.

this was a really fun magical read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed reading it. I would be interested in reading more from this universe.

This was a really cute middle grade novel that involved all sorts of fantasy. I really enjoyed the journey that Cricket has to go on to save her brother from tooth fairies.

Hobgobs, giants, and Slugwumps, oh my! Reading “The Slug Queen Chronicles” was a delight!

Kudos to the author for writing such a delightful middle-grade fantasy. While the story starts as a simple one where Cricket reads her mom’s journal, it soon takes a creepy turn of events when her brother Tristan gets replaced by a slugwump. From there, we explore the various worlds the author has created, from the Wandering Woods to Faeryland to Polaris. The illustrations included also complement the story wonderfully, and I loved the details.

Moreover, the author wrote the characters so dynamically that you feel strongly towards them. Cricket is excellent in the lead as she finds herself in a world of pixies and spider creatures. Although she is scared, she shows courage and determination to save her friends and family. Similarly, I was not too fond of Janice for the way she treats Cricket. Even the whimsical characters like Kibben and Nokomis, who Cricket meets, are fascinating. I also liked Alfrigg and Fenlick.

Moreover, the author weaves a touch of everything into the story that a reader of any age would enjoy reading. Some of the scenes made me laugh, like the incident between Miss Rivera and the cat. While some scenes also shocked me, like when Cricket finds herself talking to a door. Some parts also gave me goosebumps, like when terrors try to rip Cricket apart. It is clear that the author has weaved an intricate story with many possibilities, and I didn’t notice the time fly by once I started.

Overall, “The Slug Queen Chronicles” is a beautiful middle-grade fantasy novel worth checking out if you are a fan of the genre.