Illustrated by the author
Dare I compare ?
It is a long, long time since an MG comedy/fantasy gave me such hugely enjoyable entertainment as this one from Jamie Littler - possibly not since Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus books. (Pre Lockwood & Co, but warmly recommended, if you’ve never discovered them.)
If anything this deliciously thrilling new book struck me as a sort of children’s equivalent of Terry Pratchett. And I don’t quite mean Terry Pratchett when writing specifically for children (when he is just slightly atypical, although still wonderful). I mean a kids version of Terry Pratchett for adults. It’s more that the city of Arkspear, whilst in no way derivative, gave me something of the feeling of Ankh-Morpork.
Perhaps more explicitly, what I mean is that Jamie Little manages to pull off both of two somewhat different things quite brilliantly.
A hard trick
First he creates an imaginative world (or rather an imaginative city) that is fully worthy of totally serious YA or adult fantasy. Whilst the conjuring of Arkspire draws on a number of potent fantasy tropes, these are spun with considerable original flair. He vividly evokes a divided society with an impoverished lower strata (here delightfully called ‘the Dregs’) and an elite upper city. This latter divided into five districts, each under the thrall of a magical ‘Arcarnist’. There are serious questions, though, about the behaviour of the potentates in these inherited positions of ‘The Tempest, The Maker, The Watcher, The Enigma and The Shrouded’. Their unique magical powers allegedly protect the whole society from the malevolent outsiders, ‘The Betrayers’, but there seems to be back story to be uncovered here and it is all completely engrossing stuff. Moreover, Jamie Littler is not found wanting when it comes to writing passages of evocative description; his city just leaps into life from the page,
Then, within this fantasy creation, credibly sinister in its own terms, Jamie Littler draws (verbally and literally) a lively cast of entertaining characteristics who get up to all sorts of amusing japes and cons. Protagonist, Juniper, is a hugely likeable kick-ass rapscallion from the Dregs, who gleans a bare living as a relic thief (sorry ‘trader’), usually by way of ‘shenanigans, sneaky-sneaks and mischief.’ She is ably supported by her cocky and ever-cheerful sidekick Thea, who makes up their gang of two, ‘The Misfits’. This duo is soon hilariously extended by the addition of a disgruntled and grumpy demon, Cinder, who seems to have become reluctantly bonded to Juniper. Later still, they are joined by a toffee-nosed ‘minder’ in the shape of a boy called Everard Allard Amberflaw the Fourth. There are many other delightfully inventive characters too, both the terrifyingly powerful and the sweetly homely. One of my particular favourites is Thea’s ‘off-stage’ grangran, whose piquant aphorisms are frequently quoted by her granddaughter.
‘’What is life but love and sandwiches,’ as my grangran alwats says.’ (p 36)
Humorous fantasy is a hard trick to pull off. Jamie Littler’s remarkable triumph is that his highly entertaining characters and relationships do not in any way detract from the immersive credibility of his fantasy world. Each works hand in glove with the other to create a read that is as thrilling as it is amusing. Consequently, his novel is totally engrossing throughout. Nothing in his plot is predictable (least of all his protagonists) and Arkspire turns out to be a classic page-turner.
Drawing us in
Throughout, the writing is enhanced by the author’s own hugely entertaining illustrations. Strewn across countless pages, they not only add enormously to the fun and the thrills, but also make the whole feel very approachable indeed for young readers. This is an artist who can communicate the thoughts and feelings of his characters quite brilliantly through the body language and facial expressions of his simply but so cleverly drawn figures. They complement his written dialogue and lively narration quite wonderfully.
Compelling twists
Whereas Harry P and so many other literary kids discover they have magical abilities, Juniper finds herself having to try to convince everyone that she has such powers, when in fact she hasn’t.
‘The crowds . . . were growing every day, and they all wanted one thing. They wanted to see Juniper perform magic, to prove to them all that she was what she said she was. Which was a bit of an issue.’ (p 202)
However, Juniper turns out to be a real force to be reckoned with, not a magical one. In its later stages, the novel finds remarkable depths, both in the evolving complexities of its astonishing fantasy world and in the emotional richness of its character relationships, not least that between Juniper and her ambitious twin Elodie. Once an inseparable unit, ‘Jelliper’, the sisters could now not be more different in temperament or behaviour, but retain an underlying bond that I suspect will be tested further yet.
In his final chapters, Jamie Littler shows again that he is no slouch at writing, as he cleverly tightens his story with nail-biting jeopardy. Then he hurls his readers into a climax that claws with conjured darkness and flares with sparking energy. And in the end, there are revelations that truly shock. It is as thrilling a read as any to be found - but conclusive it is not. We are told on a final page that there is more to come in 2024, and this news is as exciting as it is frustrating. It seems the next book will, in the manner of The Lord of the Rings, be not so much a sequel as a Part 2. Bring it on.
Even though it is only high summer (allegedly), come December I confidently expect to find Arkspire amongst my Books of the Year, where it will leven any more literary choices with a wild yeast of gloriously imaginative entertainment.