The Warrior in the Mist by Ruth Eastham

Their bodies flickered strangely transparent, blueish, as if they were made of flames. With a jolt, he realised that they were fading. Time was running out.’ Who are the phantom girls? What do they want with Aidan? Aidan’s village is under siege. A fracking company has moved on to the land. Once drilling is complete, the paddocks looked after by Aidan’s family will be gone, along with his home and the horse he loves. Aidan and his best friends Emmi and Jon have one last hope. Legend has it that the warrior queen Boudicca is buried close by. If only they can find the tomb… prove this is the site of her last great battle against Roman invaders… As the mists of time separating ancient history from present day swirl and fade, Aidan must face a deadly enemy. He must fight to uncover the truth of the ghostly sisters, before it is too late.

Before starting this book I didn’t really know too much about it, apart from it being a children’s book and it features something to do with Boudicca. But that was enough to make me read it, and I am so glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am so glad the publishers gave me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I have to say that I really liked the group of friends in this book. Aidan is a great main character who you can’t not like when reading the book. From the very beginning you stand with him and his cause. You want him to stop the fracking, and save the village. Another reason why I liked the friend group in this book because they were portrayed as children and they acted as children would. In some books authors try to think and write as children, but fail. In this book the author manages to capture the essence of what it is to be a child, and write it perfectly in to a story.

As I said I didn’t really know what to expect from the story before starting reading, but I really liked the way the story played out and ended. I haven’t read anything about Queen Boudicca before so all the history surrounding her was a complete mystery to me, but I found it fascinating. And because all the facts were interwoven in the story, I think thats one of the reasons why I enjoyed this book so much, because I was learning and reading at the same time, there wasn’t clumps of information, it was all part of the story.

I also liked how this story featured Fracking, because it is so current and because I think not many people, whether they are children or adults, know too much about the subject. Its nice to see a children’s book at least mention something current and very relatable.

I have not read anything by Ruth Eastham before, but I have read so many amazing reviews for The Memory Cage, that I had high hopes for the writing in this book. I wasn’t let down because the writing was superb. It was easy to read, interesting, exciting and very visual. It wasn’t hard to visualise the story play out in your head because they way Ruth Eastham writes paints a very vivid picture. I will definitely be checking out more of her books.

I would recommend this book to young readers because I can really see them enjoying the history surrounding the story and I am almost positive they will fall in love with the group of children in this book. But I would also recommend this to young adult and adult  readers because I found this to be a really interesting read, and I can see most people enjoying it.

I rate this book 4/5 stars

***I was sent a copy of this book to review. Everything in this review is my own honest opinions.***