A new heroine, an old evil. An unforgettable adventure.
Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope was hailed as the French answer
to Harry Potter when it was translated into English and published here in June.
As a Harry Potter enthusiast I wanted to read it but also as a big fan of
fantasy fiction for young adults.
The story is about a young thirteen year old girl called
Oksa who discovers she has an array of different magical abilities. As she
develops her ability to control these new found powers she discovers a secret
that changes her whole life. Her family are originally from the magical world
Edefia. They fled Edefia in fear of their lives over 50 years before. Now based
in London the ‘runaways’ of Edefia gather around Oksa because she is their
Queen and their last hope of returning to Edefia which the all long to do.
Initially I raced through the first chapters of this book. I
really liked the character of Oksa and her friend Gus who are both well written
and have wonderful engaging personalities. The story builds at a really good
pace and is well written. We see Oksa learn who she is and explore her abilities
exactly how you imagine a thirteen year old girl would be in learning she can
shoot fire from her hands or fly. Her family are equally as well developed with
a little bit of mystery surrounding key characters such as Leomido. You are
intrigued enough that you want to finish the story but the plot does get a tad
complicated.
I am a self-confessed fantasy fan and I love all things
magical and mysterious. However, if I dare to say it this book had TOO much
magic, TOO many different things introduced so fast that it was very
complicated to completely grasp the storyline in certain places. I found myself
getting quite bogged down in the different magical powers each character could
possess especially as some were introduced so briefly. I am however hoping that
this sudden deluge of different powers, creatures and what not is just because this
is the first book in a series of 6. Fingers crossed that the second in the
series does not introduce too much more as otherwise I think a reader will just
be completely overrun with different things to keep track of. If it was not for
the books website I don’t actually think I would have understood what hair the
creatures look like so that was particularly helpful.
Having said this it is worth a read not just for fantasy fans but for those who like a good dose of action in their books. Although it
got a bit chaotic in places the actual plot was well thought out and ended with
a good cliff-hanger for the next installment.
Worth a read.
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