The Lost Heir (The Gryphon Chronicles #1)  by E.G. Foley -a review

Today we offer another novel in our middle-grade series of reviews for the young and the young -at -heart to help take away the summer boredom.

THE LOST HEIR (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 1) by E.G.Foley

THE LOST HEIR is the first book (July 22, 2012 release) in husband-wife writing team E.G.Foley’s new middle grade historical fantasy series The Gryphon Chronicles.

From the website: Jake is a scrappy orphaned pickpocket living by his wits on the streets of Victorian London. Lately he’s started seeing ghosts, and discovers he can move solid objects with his mind! He has no idea why.

Next thing he knows, a Sinister Gentleman and his minions come hunting him. On the run for his life, Jake is plunged headlong into a mysterious world full of magic and deadly peril. A world that holds the secret to who he really is: the long-lost heir of an aristocratic family—with magical powers!

But with treacherous enemies closing in, it will take all of his wily street instincts and the help of his friends—both human and magical— to solve the mystery of what happened to his parents, and defeat the foes who never wanted the Lost Heir of Griffon to be found . . .

The Gryphon Chronicles takes the reader on an imaginary adventure that every child and many adults daydream about. With his best friend Dani, Jake struggles to survive the fetid streets and alleys of Victorian England.

Jake is a 12 year orphan, who is slowly coming into some powers that are very handy when one is starving and hungry. But seeing and talking to ghosts wasn’t an ideal talent until the day he lands in prison.

As a Guardian and a member of The Order of the Yew Tree, Derek Stone has been looking for his lost charge for over 11 years. When his parents were murdered, young Jacob Everton (the 7th Earl of Griffon) went missing and presumed dead, until the day a water nymph spied Jake in the Thames River. With his power to ‘see’, Derek will soon locate and rescue young Jake, only to find them both in prison for murder and contempt. But it will be Jake’s powers of telekinesis and his ability to communicate with ghosts that will eventually free them from their cells to continue a journey towards another adventure.

There are many characters that weave their way and cross paths with Jake and Dani, including an assortment of mythical creatures, assorted frogs, a royal fairy messenger and a talking spider. Jake will find he has some very powerful allies and friends, including a magical family that he never knew existed. But the villain in the story is Jake’s Uncle Waldrick Everton. For the same 11 years, Waldrick had been hoping to locate Jake and make sure that the boy is once and for all, truly dead. Hoping to secure the position of the 7th Earl of Griffon and all of its’ wealth, Waldrick embarks on a series of mystical travel, magical potions and befriending an unlikely ally in a siren turned hag-witch named Fionnula.

And like many fairy tale adventures, Jake will discover the true meaning of friendship and family. Finding a kindred spirit trapped in the cells under his uncle’s mansion, will push the young boy into a struggle for life and death, and beyond his own imagination.

THE LOST HEIR is a wonderful novel along the same vein as the Harry Potter novels. A young boy struggling to survive the poverty of the streets will find himself in a battle to reclaim his identity while trying to avoid the pitfalls of misplaced anger and powerful enemies. A magical storyline with non-stop action and fairy-tale creatures blended with the reality that was Queen Victoria’s England.

Copy supplied by the author.

Reviewed by Sandy

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