By Josephine Park

Cover Blurb:

The fun and games of the wicked Purple Wizards’ tricks and their wrong doings are taken too far, resulting in an urgency to save Planet Earth from disaster before time runs out for the planet. The story illustrates the way nature can hit out when not heeded or respected, and it shows the impact climate change can have on our planet in extreme temperatures. It sets the scene for young readers to learn and understand the effects of a warmer chaotic world, and aims at promoting such concepts through storytelling and adventure, thus exposing some of the global issues surrounding planetary warming, as narrated and visualized through the eyes of magic and fantasy. Written with much lyrical fun in mind for children, there is, of course, some serious underlying elements… those of fostering climatic awareness, and the realisation our planet is very precious to us all. ‘Chaos in the Cosmos,’ is a fantasy narrative for children aged between 8 to 12 years.

Magic Islands: Chaos in the Cosmos By Author Irene Edwards – Book Review

Another bizarre and innovative tale from the magic islands series, ‘Chaos in the Cosmos’ picks up from where ‘A spooky wish’ left off and rejoins Stefan and Megan for their next adventure.

Somewhat more refined than the previous tale, the story is much easier to follow and in parts, quite gripping. I particularly enjoyed the addition of Scratchit to the series and found his adventures to be quite entertaining! However, the book is very much split into two very distinct story lines – the purple wizards plot and the Scratchit  plot – that only really link in the final few chapters, and even then only quite loosely. For the most part, I found the purple wizards plot line somewhat lacking and a little too far fetched at times although I guess with magic, anything is possible. The overall concluding message and finale also seemed at odds with the book and seemingly came from nowhere – until this point, I had no idea that this was to be a key theme of the narrative. 

The author has definitely made improvements to the array of characters in this book and dropped some of the non-essential supporting roles, making it much easier to follow the story. I also felt that the personalities and actions of the characters were more consistent in this sequel although there were still some anomalies. I was slightly perplexed with Ambrosious who seems to be portrayed as a wise and sensible soul but at times comes across as quite confused or lacking in understanding. Megan and Stefan remain much the same as they did in the first story although I would have liked for Trevor to be more involved in the main story as I feel he would add some slightly more mature comedic value. The dialogue was much improved and more free-flowing, more reflective of every day conversation and therefore more believable. 

The Book Dragon awards it 3 stars

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