Girl of Ink & Stars

The book makes you intrigued . I am currently reading it for a competition but nevertheless I thoroughly am enjoying it.

Nahima Age 11 - I rated this as 5 stars because it is mysterious and adventurous. The descriptions are so good that you can hear the sounds and see the pictures in your head. It would be better if there were a collection of these booksArune Age 10 - I think Kiran is a brilliant author. There is a great use of words (butterflies in my stomach is one of my favourite) It is full of adventure and lots of creativity.Emily Age 11 - This is an amazing book full of mystery and adventure. It is a great read after a serious book, or at any time - I loved it! With the main character being s strong female character it makes a brilliant book. Sometimes it can be a little rushed and confusing, but don't let that put you off!Nadiyah Age 10 - An amazing enjoyable for children and adults. It was incredible, I was very sad when it ended. The characters and the storyline should make it an award winning book. The scenery was described so well.Bracken Age 10 - Great magical book, I would definitely pick up this book in a shop and buy buy. I recommend this book because it makes you wonder and the language is amazing, however it can sometimes be a little complicated, but altogether it is a great book!Mrs Fullwood (age withheld) - I have so enjoyed our journey through this book with these wonderful Y6 girls. We have all explored this magic and mystery together, unpicking the language and feeling all the emotion - I've loved it!

A beautifully written story about friendship and bravery, The Girl of Ink and Stars is a must read.Isabella lives on the island of Joya with her father, a cartographer and her faithful hen, Miss La. Discovering the history of her home, Isa is determined to one day venture beyond Gromera and discover the mysteries of the forbidden lands beyond. When her best friend Lupe goes missing, Isa takes it upon herself to find her and soon she is leaving Gromera behind, and her adventures truly begin.Isabella is one determined character! Despite having to disguise herself as a boy and encountering mythical beasts, she will not give up on her search for Lupe. She knows that these adventures are simply adding to the map of her life, encouraging her to grow and learn with every difficult encounter. The mythical element is subtle at first, but develops wonderfully as the story unfolds.Lupe’s character arc is also a pleasure to read. As the governor’s daughter, she is determined to throw off the ‘rotten’ label given to her by Isa. Her character shows just how selfless she is and how important friendship is to her. The relationship between the two girls warms your heart.It’s not hard to see why The Girl of Ink and Stars is award-winning. Share books like this with children to introduce them to new places, new language and, most importantly, exciting new authors.

So originally I started reading some of this on the train because I couldn't take my huge great 'The Complete Sherlock Holmes' with me, and I only planned to start it and then return to it later. However, plans changed when I got so hooked that I had to finish it ASAP. I've had a fairly busy last couple of days, or I KNOW I would have finished this in one sitting. Initially I was a little worried by the mixed reviews for this book but I should know by now not to let things like that put me off and to draw my own conclusion, which in this case, is that it's fantastic! So much imagination has gone into it, and just LOOK at that cover. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?But let's get more specific. 'The Girl Of Ink & Stars' blew me away mostly because of Hargrave's amazing writing. The story flowed so beautifully and it sucked me into such a gorgeously built world that I couldn't ignore: fire demons, myths about brave heroines, monstrous wolves and beautiful cartography (seriously the design of the book and inclusion of maps were BEAUTIFUL). I loved the characters, the stories that they told and the general plot premise, though simple, was very good. It carefully sits on that line between MG & YA too which I liked because usually Middle Grade books are a little too simplistic and immature for me.In terms of things that could have been better, I'd say that the development of some characters went a little unexplored. Namely, the Governor. He started off as the big bad villain, and revealed a softer side as the book continued but I feel like his past could have been explored more thoroughly (namely the reasons why he did what he did), as well as his relationship with his daughter and the Banished because that was never fully explained either. He was such an intriguing and mysterious character, I would have loved to read more of him. Honestly, this is down to the small number of pages in this book and while I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a stand-alone, I would love there to be a sequel because the Island of Joya is such a great setting!

I was really excited about this book and I had very high hopes. However, as a fan of fantasy genres, I found it dull, undeveloped and far from exciting. The characters and story line were utterly boring. I struggled to read the whole book. I'm shocked as to how this got published!

I bought this for my niece for christmas. She said that she really enjoyed it. She is 9.5 years old and an avid book reader.