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All of which reduces the chance of books with creative and original stories being endorsed. And it would seem this would be the case with “Skandar and the unicorn thief”. For sure,” the rider replied, nodding confidently. “There’s a real mix of abilities among the competitors, Tim. People are fixating on the fire strength of Federico Jones and Sunset’s Blood, but what about Ema Templeton and Mountain’s Fear? They might be air-allied, but they’re multitalented. People forget that the best Chaos Cup riders excel in all four elements—not just the one they’re allied to.”
But he was riding something – what was it? A dragon? An eagle? No. It was fierce, certainly. I half shut my eyes and saw him taking off in front of me. Skandar entered the kitchen to the sound of sizzling eggs and blaring early Cup coverage. Dad was humming, leaning over the pan. When he saw Skandar, he gave him an enormous grin. Skandar couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him smile.
Mainlanders believed unicorns were only a myth. But when the Islanders revealed their secret--unicorns are real--Mainlanders learned "unicorns don't belong in fairy tales; they belong in nightmares." The magical creatures of lore are not for the fainthearted in this exhilarating and wildly imaginative middle-grade fantasy debut from A.F. Steadman.
The storyline becomes lethargic and confusing once Skandar hatches scoundrel, and his training commences. There are no races until close to the finale, no rules being explained about the game for the new riders. And the training sessions mostly all involve Skandar struggling to hide his spirit element. It would have been a lot better had there actually been structured trials and games that had to be carried out that would have tested the cadets as opposed to boring lessons. For example, Skandar and his friends must find their way out of a labyrinth or defeat a mythical monster using their powers to advance. I wanted to find out about this new series, wanted to know why the publishing industry would spend a six zero sum on this series and organised a worldwide-dozens-of-translations reveal. I wanted to find a new little gem, like Harry Potter was in its time. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark... I also found it underwhelming that none of the “actual” chase cup riders have any major interactions with Skandar and his friends. It would have been better had they been assigned a mentor based on their elemental types to help them train. As the training continues, Skandar realises that his mentor is a spirit wielder, but not before he is captured and imprisoned. He then hatches a plan to release him alongside his friends.Sure signs that the creative wells are running dry at last, the Captain’s ninth, overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment. But no. The Weaver just wants to build an army so they can rule the Mainland (which I think is England??) AND the Island. Because who knows why. There is never a motivation other than "I want to rule the world." Which is another trope that annoys me, because have they actually thought through how they are going to rule it?? And like, are they going to make living conditions better?? Or pay proper wages?? Like, if you rule it and make everyone a unicorn rider, who's going to tend the fields and clean the waterways and dispose of rubbish and build roads and teach in schools?? Or will the Weaver just sit on an imaginary throne and end up not actually ruling anything?? I dunno.
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