November. London. The dead time. the time of the spirits. Jade has always longed to be different. But what if everything she ever believed in is a lie? What is the mysterious secret that links her to the reindeer herders of Lapland? To the scientist, Dr Kobal, locked in a prison for the criminally insane? And to a warrior monk from the time of the crusades? And what if she is the greatest mystery of them all? Jade is trying to do her maths homework when her thoughts are interrupted. A Bear. With a red umbrella. When a screensaver of a distant snowy scene appears on her computer, Jade is sure that something is going on. Cool Aunt Em is also not what she seems and just when it looks as if Jade is getting some answers, she is catapulted into an incredibly fast moving adventure where her questions are answered with yet more unsolved mysteries.

Ordinary is the last thing she is - and accessing her powers is part of the adventure( not to mention finding the bear with the umbrella!). Jade is one of seven. Seven children who were created in the laboratory of Dr Kobal and implanted into surrogate mothers. Scattered across the world, Jade is the first to be recovered and Dr Kobal is searching for the rest. Mysterious Brother Benedict is also looking for the seven...who will reach them first?

With the children's literature market full of child heroes in an adult world, fantasy or otherwise, I actually found this to be more original than I expected it to be. Fans of this genre I'm sure will enjoy a new author to get their teeth into and I hope the rest of the trilogy is just as exciting!

2008-08-28