Will Summerhouse's Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer will be published by Shake-A-Leg Press in May 2014. It's an adventure/fantasy novel for children and young adults.
Information about Will Summerhouse:
Will Summerhouse was born in northern Maine and has lived, worked, and traveled all over the world. When he isn't writing adventure books for kids he's reading them, and when he isn't doing that he's off somewhere having adventures of his own. At the moment Will's hat is hanging in Chicago.
Click here to visit the author's official website.
Information about Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer:
Eleven-year-old Orion lives with his stodgy grandfather in eastern Maine, where nothing exciting ever happens. But then a series of strange events draws him into the mystery of a lost explorer, and Orion is swept up in a whirlwind of adventure that takes him to the top of the world. To survive he must outwit a scheming treasure hunter, team up with a gang of flimps, and take on a tyrant with an anger management problem. Can Orion solve the mystery and get back home alive? And just what are flimps, anyway?
Orion Poe is about to find out. Join him as he laughs, cries, bluffs, and shoots his way to the heart of one of the greatest mysteries in the history of exploration. Along the way he discovers that the world is far bigger - and stranger - than he ever imagined.
A REVIEW OF WILL SUMMERHOUSE'S ORION POE AND THE LOST EXPLORER
Will Summerhouse's Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer is an exciting adventure novel for children and young adults. It's a standalone novel full of suspense, action and adventure, and it also has a few speculative fiction elements in it.
I was positively surprised by Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer, because it was a fantastic, fast-paced and charming adventure novel for younger readers. It's one of the most intriguing and well written adventure novels that have been written for children and young adults during the recent years. It nicely bridges the gap between children's literature and yound adults' literature, and provides good entertainment for both readerships. It will also be of interest to adult readers, because the story is good.
One of the first things that the readers will notice when they begin to read this novel is that the author has created a fantastically old-fashioned atmosphere (although the happenings take place in the present-day world, the atmosphere is charmingly old-fashioned). This novel will remind the readers of Jules Verne's novels and also of Martha Wells' Emilie and the Hollow World. It's also possible to find tiny traces of Enid Blyton and Charles Dickens in this novel.
Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer is a novel that has short chapters. The short chapters make this novel an ideal read for younger readers, because it's easy to take a pause after reading a couple of chapters. In my opinion this novel is one of those novels that may awaken the younger readers' interest in books and reading.
The readers will be swept into the adventure as soon as they begin to read the story, because the action starts immediately when the story begins. The author moves the story fast forward and reveals interesting things to the readers. I'm sure that this will please several readers who are interested in reading a fast-paced adventure novel.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
- The story is set in present-day Maine, but much of the action takes place at the top of the world where Orion Poe and the team of explorers find something unexpected. The story is based on the real-life explorer John Franklin, who vanished in the Arctic in 1847.
- Eleven-year-old Orion Poe is the protagonist of the story. Orion's story begins on a stormy night when he saves a man who survived the storm. Orion takes the man to his grandfather's house. Men from a tall ship come ashore and Collins asks Orion to hide something in the woods. Men from the ship think that Orion has a dispatch box. The dispatch box turns out be John Franklin's - an explorer whose expedition vanished during an exploration trip - dispatch box. Soon Orion finds himself on an expedition to a remote place aboard the Sea Leopard. This is the beginning of a great adventure...
I think it was a brilliant idea from the author to base the story on the real-life explorer John Franklin. It was fascinating to read what had happened to him and his expedition. What Orion Poe and the explorers found out about John Franklin was both surprising and very interesting. I'm not going to write what they found out about him, because I don't want to write too many spoilers, but I'll mention that their discovery will be a pleasant surprise for the readers.
Reading about Orion's adventures was genuinely fascinating, because the story contained plenty of thrilling moments and suspense. I found myself totally immersed in the story. (If you know what it feels like to immerse yourself in a good story and fully enjoy it, you can do it with this novel, beause the story pulls you in and almost forces you to read it as fast as possible.)
The author writes fluently about the characters and doesn't bore the readers with unnecessary details about them. Orion Poe is an interesting protagonist, because he's a courageous boy. The other characters - Professor Meriweather, Captain Crump, Patrick Poe, Peerless Jones, Mr. McClintock, Dr. Little, Rosie etc. - are also interesting characters and their traits will fascinate the readers.
There are several intriguing details in this novel. For example, it was nice to read that the men aboard the ship (Sea Leopard) called themselves Sea Leopards. The fierce bearwolves were an especially fascinating detail, because they were intentionally bred to be fearsome beasts. I think that several younger readers will be thrilled by them.
In my opinion the author writes believably about the exploration team and their problems. The explorers face quite a lot of problems on their journey. The weather conditions cause them problems and they're attacked by creatures (bearwolves) etc. They also run into much worse problems when they find out what happened to John Franklin's expedition and had to find a way to escape.
It was great to read about the voyage through the frozen sea. There are probably several readers out there who have never had a chance to walk on the frozen sea and don't know what it feels like to walk on the ice. I can say to these readers that in my opinion Will Summerhouse writes fluently about the frozen sea and how it feels to walk on the ice (he writes wonderfully about the noises the ice makes and how ice floes can split in half).
When I read about the flimps and the king of the flimps, I found myself wondering if the author is a fan of Charles Dickens, because there was something about the flimps that reminded of Oliver Twist. This was a nice surprise for me, because there aren't many authors who have the ability to use Dickensian elements in their stories.
I was impressed by Will Summerhouse's way of writing about the happenings, because the narrative flowed fluently and effortlessly. He's a gifted storyteller and he has plenty of imagination. I sincerely hope that he'll continue to write more adventure stories. I liked this novel so much that I hope a sequel will be written and published someday (it would be nice read more about Orion and his adventures).
I highly recommend Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer to younger readers, because it's an enjoyable and well written adventure novel for children and young adults. If you're a younger reader looking for a charming and thrilling adventure novel (or if you're a parent looking for a good adventure novel for your child), look no further, because you've just found what you're looking for. Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer offers you not only a compelling adventure story, but also charming and wonderful escapism.
My final words are: Orion Poe and the Lost Explorer is an excellent adventure novel for younger readers!