I'm pleased to be sharing my stop on the tour organized by TBR and Beyond Tours for Which Way to Anywhere by Cressida Cowell with you all today. Check out my post to learn more about the book, the author, and how you can get your own copy.
Happy reading everyone!
Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy
Publishing date: September 19th, 2023
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From the #1 internationally bestselling author of How to Train Your Dragon and Wizards of Once comes an out-of-this-world adventure where magic and reality collide!
K2 O’Hero is a seemingly ordinary boy—after all, he and his twin sister, Izzabird, have been sworn to keep their family’s Magical history a secret. Not even their infuriating stepsiblings, Theo and Mabel, know that Magic exists. They believe K2 to be the most hopeless person they have ever known.
But K2 has a secret gift: He draws maps of worlds that are beyond the wildest imaginations. Worlds with six hundred moons, burning rivers, and dark, twisty jungles alive with plants that hunt by the smell of fear. But what K2 doesn’t know is that the maps he draws are real .
When their baby sister, Annipeck, is kidnapped, the warring stepsiblings will have to use K2’s gift to find a crossing point into one of those worlds and embark on a daring rescue mission.
Rating: 4 Stars
Format: eARC + Audiobook
It's clear after reading Cressida Cowell's latest book, Which Way to Anywhere, that the limits of her imagination know no bounds. It's a zany, action packed, humorous adventure that will entertain readers of all ages.
The characters are quirky and lovable. Similar to her other books, they all have very unique names that only add to the story. The names are a bit childish, like K2 or Izzabird (which is reminiscent of the names of characters in her other books, like Hiccup and Gobber). However, that was more a benefit rather than a distraction from the overall story as I felt it added a more whimsical air to the story. In addition to the whimsical elements, there are also more commonplace real life elements with K2 having dyslexia and amblyopia (lazy eye). I really appreciate authors who celebrate differences and neurodivergence in their characters, rather than making them out to be something bad. It's always exciting to me to see authors celebrating differences rather than making them out to be something bad.
The world-building, or should I say building multiple worlds is cool too. The idea of an alternative atlas was incredibly unique, and it was fun to get to learn about the different worlds the alternative atlases created paths to. It was also fun to get to envision the various looks of each alternative atlas in my mind. On another note, the O’Hero family’s history plays a large role in the story and the world, so it was interesting to learn about that over the course of the book.
The audiobook version of this title is an experience. The author narrates the book herself, and it's a fully produced recording complete with sound effects. I loved it! There are some twists related to the author narrating the book that I wasn’t expecting as well. This is definitely one of those instances where listening to the audiobook elevates the reading experience. I think it's also worth checking out the print version as well, given the illustrations interspersed throughout the story.
Which Way to Anywhere is an amazing book, and I’m so excited to check out more titles from the author in the future. If you enjoy humorous fantasy tales that celebrate differences and the meaning of family, you should definitely check out this book.
Thank you to the author, the publisher Little Brown Young Readers, the team at TBR and Beyond Tours, and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary review copy of the book as part of my participation in the blog tour. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review the book immensely. Please note - I voluntarily read and reviewed Which Way to Anywhere. All opinions expressed in the review are my own and not influenced in any way.
Cressida Cowell grew up in London and on a small, uninhabited island off the west coast of Scotland. She was convinced that there were dragons living on this island, and has been fascinated by dragons ever since. She has a BA in English Literature from Oxford University, a BA in Graphic Design from St Martin’s and an MA in Narrative Illustration from Brighton. Cressida loves illustrating her own work, but also loves writing books for other people to illustrate as the end result can be so unexpected and inspiring. Cressida has written and illustrated eight books in the popular Hiccup series. The unique blend of child centred humour and sublime prose made Hiccup an instant hit. How to Train Your Dragon is now published in over 30 languages. A DreamWorks Animation feature film is out in March 2010. Also the author of picture books, Cressida has won the Nestle Children’s Book Prize 2006 and has been shortlisted for many others. Cressida lives in Hammersmith with her husband and three children.
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