- Source: Review Copy
- Pages: 414
- Publication Date: May 16th 2019
- Publisher: Oriafen Books
- My Rating: 4/5
Kingdom of the Silver Cat is the first book in The Sapphire Fruit Chronicles. It is a children’s adventure and fantasy book that can be easily enjoyed by adults as well.
Sarah has a crazy dream in which she sees a large silver cat. She wakes up her brother Wesley and keeps him up all night talking about it, as she usually does. The next day, the siblings are on their way to school. Suddenly, there is a loud noise and their bus ‘The Yellow Beast’ gets transported to a field with all the kids and the bus driver inside it. The bus driver goes out to find help and doesn’t come back. The kids get down from the bus and their adventure through a strange land begins.
The world that the kids stepped into was a curious and mystical one. The days were much longer and the animals were more interactive. But the most interesting thing was the different magical powers that the kids developed. One after the other, strange things started happening to them. One of them gets frozen by mist while another gains the ability to generate heat through their hands. One of them starts creating magical farts that can shove them four feet into the air. One of them suddenly becomes a musical instrument by waving their hands. The kids get as excited as they are confused about what is happening with them.
A lot of characters are introduced in the first chapter. Usually, that can be confusing and annoying but the author did it smoothly by telling us some backstory of each character which helped me to not forget them instantly. Also, the author provided a beautifully illustrated character list right at the beginning.
I liked the dynamic between the kids. They weren’t all close friends but no one was malicious towards another. The author didn’t include any unnecessary drama. It was nice to read about characters like that. As a children’s book, it is also good for young readers to read stories where people are helpful and kind to each other.
I grew attached to the characters. Every kid was so wonderfully unique. I felt sad and slightly emotional whenever they got separated from each other.
On one hand, the kids were dealing with the situation quite well and not panicking a lot which is a good thing, and just shows how kids can be more adventurous than adults. But on the other hand, there was an element of thrill missing from the story most of the time. The story builds up slowly. After a few chapters, I felt that it was dragging. I wanted action and something unexpected and scary. I kept on waiting for a turning point or climax. There were such action-filled moments in the book but they were farther apart than I usually like. It took too long for the big revelation to come out as well. I think the book would’ve worked better if it was shorter in length. However, the story gets very exciting towards the end.
The writing style of the book is good. The perspectives switch a lot and the author handled that well.
This is an enjoyable book, especially for those who like fantasy. With the addition of illustrations and maps, Kingdom of the Silver Cat is a wonderful children’s book.
