Mia and the Lightcasters: Umbra Tales 1 (The Umbra Tales)

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I have a few, but two of them happen very closely together. It's the moment Mia is reunited with a certain someone, but at the same time taken away from loved ones. Die Charaktere mochte ich überwiegend wirklich gern – sie haben alle ihre ganz eigene Rolle, Funktion und Persönlichkeit, die sie aus- und liebenswert macht und die vor allem dazu führt, dass eine ziemliche Vielfalt an Figuren herrscht. Die Geschichte selbst hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen. Die Idee mit den Umbras hat mich etwas an die Patronusse aus Harry Potter erinnert. hauptsächlich habe ich mir ihr Aussehen so vorgestellt. Ever so often I find a book that I feel is the epitome of middle grade fantasy, and The Lightcasters is one of them! What I love the most about middle grade fantasy is an immersive fantasy world with great world-building, developed characters, and a book that transports me into another world. Janelle McCurdy accomplished all of these things. The Lightcasters is perfect for fans of The Marvellers, and Amari and the Night Brothers. Janelle cosplays as her favourite video game and anime characters, such as Krul Tepes from Seraph of the End (left) and Mileena from Mortal Kombat (right). So, how can Mia and the Lightcasters engage with young gamers?

I'm going to start by asking which genre The Lightcasters belongs to. This is usually a stupid question to ask about a book. Genre classifications are arbitrary and, especially in the speculative fiction regime, largely meaningless. But I have a reason. Das Buch hat mehr Liebe verdient, ich hatte noch nie davon gehört bevor ich es bei Netgalley gefunden habe. So viele Bewertungen hat es bei Goodreads auch nicht. Es hat mehr verdient. Insgesamt verläuft die erzählte Geschichte in meinen Augen sehr vorhersehbar und jede spannende, actionreichen Szene läuft nahezu nach dem gleichen Schema ab, was nach einiger Zeit das Leseerlebnis ein bisschen eindämmt hat und dafür gesorgt hat, dass sich das Gefühl von Langatmigkeit irgendwann ein bisschen bei mir eingeschlichen hat. Dies hatte auch zur Folge, dass sich bei mir kein „Weiterlesedrang“ eingestellt hat. Ich konnte das Buch an jeder Stelle, zu jeder Zeit aus der Hand legen und empfang kein Bedürfnisse die Geschichte um Mia, Miles, TJ und all den anderen Charakteren schnellstmöglich weiterlesen zu müssen. Was ich sehr schade fand, da die Grundidee der Geschichte unfassbar viel Potential aufweist. Das abschließende Ende fand ich dann doch ein wenig zu unspektakulär und fast langweilig. An sich kann die Geschichte mit dem Ende von Band 1 auch als abgeschlossen angesehen werden, was es für mich glaube ich auch ist, denn ich werde die Erlebnisse von Mia in den Chroniken von Lunis wohl eher nicht weiterverfolgen. A lot of things! Right now, I'm editing Book 2 and writing Book 3, but what I can say is that there will be potential heartbreak, moments of pure joy and hope, and unbreakable friendships. I think readers will also relate to the strong family bonds in Mia and the Lightcasters. Mia and Lucas's relationship is the heart of this first book. Whilst, like any brother and sister, they can annoy each other and fight, Mia will always be protective of her little brother and will fight anyone and anything to protect him. I’m sure those with siblings can relate! Lastly, can your character Mia give us any top tips on how to tame the fantastical creatures of her world, umbras?

Coffee house Caffè Nero has announced the 16-strong shortlist for the inaugural Nero Book Awards, recognising the outstanding books of the past 12... On a random sidenote, reading this story reminded me of this game called taming.io. This story centers a lot on taming umbra and taming.io basically involves taming animals to be your pets and helping them level up along with yourself. You engage in battles with other teams, build your own base, level-up your weapons, and access your pets' power. This is totally random but I just found it hilarious to read a book that reminded me of a game I sometimes play. This is a book that I will be proudly displaying in my classroom and recommending to many children who I know will devour it. I have not come across many other children's books that explore fantasy worlds this imaginatively and can draw a reader in to them. We have been consciously researching books with main protagonists of colour in school and this is certainly one to add to the list. There are unfortunately not many within this genre, especially a female role, too.

That all sounds like a fantasy world. But there are no elves, no sorcerers, no magic spells. Mia's mother, besides being an umbra tamer, is a scientist who works in her lab trying to understand the umbra. Mia's mother and father carry holophones, which appear to be cell phones that project holograms instead of showing things on video screens. They have computers and Mia has a tablet that can take and show pictures. They have running water and elevators and navigation systems. Der Klappentext klang vielversprechend, sodass ich mich zwar mit großer Vorfreude aber ohne große Erwartungen in dieses Buch hereingestürzt habe. This is a difficult one, because there's not really a straight answer, it just happened. Compared to Lucas, who was inspired by the children I looked after when I worked at a nursery, Mia sort of just came about on her own in my mind. Mia and her little brother, Lucas, are the city's only hope of survival, and Mia must learn to harness her umbra taming abilities to stand any chance of saving her city and rescuing her parents. If she can't, she'll lose her soul, and her family, to the Darkness forever. It's about sibling bonds, kids doing martial arts, bravery and adventure. World-building was one of the selling points for me. The story gives the right information when necessary without info-dumping. The map helped me imagine the story more! The Kingdom of Lunis is truly magical, and the constructs of the world are solid. (The author is careful not to stretch or break the rules, and explains the magic system in a detailed and easy-to-understand way.) The concept of the umbra, the Reaper King, Nightmare Plains, and Spiritual Plains, were all things that I adored.Then came the creation of the umbra. I wanted the kingdom to have beautiful yet dangerous mystical creatures roaming about, similar to how you will often have monsters roaming in open world games, and the idea of the umbra being made from shadows and stars fit that vision. Then came Mia!