A thrilling fantasy adventure about myths and monsters and a secret society sworn to protect them! I would love to see this idea expanded as I'm sure Emmeline and Thing have many more adventures ahead of them yet!

A really enthralling middle grade adventure with some fearless and strong characters.

Emmeline's parents vanish suddenly so she sets out on a mission to rescue them but comes across so many obstacles and challenges in the way. There are a great range of characters who help (and hinder) her as she travels to the frozen North to face the terrifying kraken and attempt to find out what her parents were really working on. The young characters were really imaginative and worked together so well, despite coming from so many different walks of life and all having different motivations for travelling together.

Lots of different perspectives made this a challenging novel to follow as it swapped between where different groups of characters were at different times, but slowly all the threads came together to an exciting ending.

There was much to enjoy here, but I found I couldn't connect with it. I'd read more from this author in the future though.

I'm sorry about this - my NetGalley file-sending to Kindle stopped working & I never received this file. It's working again now, so I should be able to review future titles in a timely way. Sorry about that!

First of all, I would like to say thank you to NetGalley for an eARC of this book in return for an unbiased review.

This book is aimed at the 8-12/Middle Grade age range, and recently I’ve found myself really enjoying books within this bracket, so I decided to pick this one up. It’s a tale following a young girl after her parents have been kidnapped, and her being confused and having to find out all of the information by herself. The world building was really interesting to me as it seemed to simultaneously be set in both the past and the future. Our protagonist Emmaline wears bloomers and she is traversing the Atlantic by ship rather than by plane. However, the ocean levels around the world have been rising so much that it has drastically changed countries borders. This is explained much further into the book, but I really enjoyed this little glimpse into climate change and how this book seems to emphasise the point that we need to look after our planet to avoid this future.

I vastly enjoyed the character development within this book, with Thing (yes, that’s his name) really coming into his own and I found him very endearing. Emmaline also seems to become a little less independent, and in her case, this is a good thing! She is much more willing to allow people to help her on her way, which means she is able to do much more.

The way this book ends, I feel like it has been left open for a possible sequel. There is nothing on Goodreads, however, I’d really enjoy diving back into this world and seeing more of these children’s escapades. Definitely a fun, charming and engrossing read and one I would recommend to children and those young at heart!

A great adventure tale with a strong female lead, 'The Eye of the North is a rip roaring, stem punk-esque journey with peril and stowaways and monsters mixed in with evil scientists and fiendish plots!
My daughters aged 7-13 all thoroughly enjoyed reading this with me and we look forward to seeing what Sinead O'Hart does next.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this proof in return for an honest review.

Emmeline Widget is an unusual girl. She is well-versed in all kinds of survival techniques, including avoiding being poisoned, attacked or otherwise bumped off and is quite convinced her scientist parents are trying to kill her. But when they vanish suddenly and she is packed off to safety in Paris she doesn't lose heart. When she is kidnapped by their arch-enemy, the evil Doctor Siegfried Bauer, and discover that her parents are, in fact, still alive she sets about trying to rescue them. Not bad for a pre-teen. She is aided by her trusty satchel, a boy called Thing who is a stowaway on the ship she takes for Paris and a remarkable cast of allies (including creatures from legend, tough little old ladies, kindly Inuits and a butler).

This is a fast-paced and exciting story aimed at children between 9 and 12ish but could be read by anyone who enjoys a good adventure. It has a slightly steampunky feel - full of odd inventions - but also a healthy dose of mythology. Emmeline is a great character - a plucky heroine who, despite being just a child, tends to rescue herself from most situations. I loved Thing too - a streetwise little raggamuffin who has to fight against his weaknesses to help his friend - while the friendship between the two is lovely (and, age-appropriately, without any hint of youthful romance).

I'm unsure about how much I enjoyed this book as there were parts which I thought were great and others where I almost put it down and started to read another book.

There were lots of characters which brought excitement to the story but I found it hard to connect with them. I think this is because you only really find out little bits about the character's past and there are lots of questions left unanswered for example Thing's issues with his lungs. Of course, this could be answered in a sequel but it would have worked well here.

The story line, for me, started off a bit dull and I found it quite difficult to commit to the book. It starts to pick up mid way through the book but then I feel like things were happening just for the sake of it rather than to really engage and excite the reader.

Although I wouldn't read this with my Year 5 class (as I wouldn't want to read it again), I do think that they might feel differently to me so I will recommend it to them to try. Fingers crossed they'll enjoy it more!

this joins a range of new MG novels that link exploration, a hint of steampunk and young and very strong willed central characters, often with a female lead. When Emmeline received a letter from her mother hinting that she is now an orphan she is told to make her way to an old lady in Paris, who is now her guardian. However on board ship she is attacked and kidnapped, together with a young lad called "Thing". The book is a thrilling roller coaster as they and their friends try to outwit the villains, whilst trying to get to Greenland to search for Emmeline's parents. There is a wonderful mix of Norse legend, environmental meltdown (literally) and secret societies and I can't wait for the next adventure

I'm a huge fan of MG fantasy and was hoping for something in the Philip Reeve, Jonathan Stroud mould, but I'm afraid it just didn't work for me. I'm sure there will kids out there who will love it though.

I was excited about this book. I liked the tone and the kind of character Emmeline was being built up to be. But the set-up was over very quickly and with non-stop running away from baddies and imminent danger, no time was really given to getting to know the characters. The relationship between characters seemed to happen instantly, which didn't quite feel believable to me.

I'm pretty sure the timeline of the story is just a week during which a LOT happens. Despite the fast pace I found myself feeling a bit bored. It's hard to pinpoint why. It may have been the endless running and being chased with no time to develop the characters and get to know them or the very short back and forth of point of views. Somehow this book felt like it should have been the second in a series, where the characters and the world has already been set up, meaning that you can launch into an adventure quite quickly. With the set-up not being effective enough, I just ended up not really caring and forcing myself to finish... Shame, the blurb had a lot of promise.

A wonderful idea for a story. Full of Magic and Wonder. Perfect for young readers and possibly teens.

I love this book!

I mean seriously - who isn't going to love this book? The book's synopsis tells us that Emmeline Widget - our star -has never left Widget Manor - her parents are scientists who mysteriously disappear and she is packed off on a ship, befriended by an urchin stowaway named Thing, and then is kidnapped by the "sinister Dr Siegfried Bauer" who wants to summon a legendary monster from the deep.

I knew from the very first page that this was really my sort of book and I just hoped that it lived up to my expectations. It did.

I started this book in an airport in Tromso, and didn't put it down again (well, barring changing flights, eating, finding trains, etc) until I reached home 16 hours later.

Emmeline is a really likeable character and I absolutely adored her from the very start - the author has clearly put a lot of thought into the characters, how they interact with each other and how we should feel about them. I thought Emmeline was just great - Thing has a surprising back story that I would never have guessed and which warmed him to me more and more as the story progressed. Of course Dr Bauer was evil...I hated him...

It's this sort of book that makes me wish I was middle grade again and not an adult. It's really good fun, a great story, the characters are wonderful and it's very well written. I will certainly be looking out for this author again....I'm going to name my next house Widget Manor - just watch!!

My thanks to Netgalley and Little Tiger Group/Stripes Publishing

Hmm. I thought this was quite good - the whimsical fantasy with its steampunk/Victorian edge will definitely appeal to fans of Phillip Pullman and Lemony Snicket. It follows the headstrong, smart Emmeline who finds out one day that her parents are likely dead and she must be whisked off to France to live with a woman she's never heard of - but what should be a simple journey becomes a chaotic adventure leading her to meet Thing, a misfit stowaway, and to discover what exactly her parents were working on that has led to their disappearances.

I think the first half of this novel was better than the first - it's very pacy, and the plot moves along quickly, but I think it started to fall apart a little after Emmeline and Thing were separated - they spend a lot of the book apart, which I thought was strange.

However, this is a fun read suitable for anyone who enjoys middle-grade fantasy.

This steampunk adventure is huge fun that hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until the end. Emmeline is brought up a solitary child in a creepy house infested with all sorts of dangerous creatures and is more or less left to get on with it as her scientist parents have to do a lot of travelling. Until a fateful day when everything goes wrong… Do try to avoid reading the blurb which is far too chatty and gives away more of the plot than is necessary. That said, there is plenty of plot in this action-packed story brimful of interesting, likeable characters. Generally I am not a huge fan of stories where yet another set of new characters pop up in each scene, but somehow O’Hart manages to pull it off. Other than Emmeline, whose gritty self-assurance gets her through all sorts of tight spots, my favourite character has to be Thing, the vagabond boy she encounters on the liner. But there are plenty of other enjoyable, strong-minded characters to choose from as steampunk tends to roll along with lots of action and relatively little angst. It was when Thing had a wobble about his grim childhood that I bonded with him and felt that vulnerability gave him more reader-appeal.
There is also a pleasing number of unpleasant villains ranged against Emmeline and the people trying to prevent the impending apocalypse – my favourite is Doctor Siegfried Bauer as he is so magnificently horrible, especially to poor Emmeline. But the North Witch is also a thoroughly nasty character who poses all sorts of problems. Once the action really takes off, we have the two main protagonists, Emmeline and Thing alternating in telling the story, occasionally interspersed by other members of the supporting cast. O’Hart’s strong writing and deft handling of the rising tension makes this a really gripping read that didn’t want to let me go when I should have been up and about instead of finishing the book.
The denouement has to deliver after so much energy and tension has been expended during the rising action and in this case, it does, while all the dangling plotpoints are satisfactorily tidied up. I’m very much hoping that this book does well, because although I cannot see any sign of this being the first in a series, I’d love to read more about Emmeline and her family in another madcap adventure. Recommended for precocious readers from 10/11 years old onwards.
9/10

I love plucky characters like Emmeline. Straight from the top of the story, this character roars into life in the strangest of circumstances and makes for such a fantastic heroine in this middle grade title.

A nice plot that sees a great friendship grow between Thing and Emmeline in the start, the characters are pretty human considering the story in how they react to the situations they end up in and the adventure plot of the story is rip-roaring as the story goes on, making for a great yarn for younger readers.

The writing is delightful and perfect for young kids, that it really makes me want to buy it for my cousins as this is a story I think that would grip them, though not an ideal story for bed, the story I think will leave them wanting more!

The Eye Of The North by Sinead O’Hart is a children’s book aimed at children of middle grade age.

Emmeline Widget has grown up with her eccentric scientist parents in Widget Manor. From a young age she has been convinced her parents are trying to kill her and her trained herself in survival skills.

“For as long as she could remember, Emmeline Widget had been sure her parents were trying to kill her.

Why else, she reasoned, would they chose to live in a creaky old house where, if she wasn’t dodging random bits of collapsing masonry or avoiding the trick steps on the stairs, she had to be constantly on guard for booby-trapped floorboards or doors that liked to boom closed entirely by themselves? She’d lost count of the number of close calls she’d already clocked up.”

One morning her parents are gone and there is nothing but a letter from her mother saying they are in all likelihood dead and Emmeline is to board a ship to Paris immediately.

“Dearest Emmeline, the letter began. If you are reading this, then in all likelihood you are no an orphan.”

Once she is on the ship Emmeline reluctantly makes friends with a scruffy stowaway named ‘Thing.’

Before she can reach Paris Emmeline is kidnapped by Dr Siegfried Bauer. He believes Emmeline holds the key to summoning a legendary creature from the icy depths.

Dr Bauer isn’t the only one wanting to wake the creature, the Northwitch also wants the creature to herself.

With all the obstacles against them can Emmeline and Thing save the world, or will their enemies defeat them?

When the book begins Emmeline has no friends and very rarely sees her scientist parents as they are often off exploring looking for rare and dangerous creatures. As a result, Emmeline spends most of her time reading, not just fiction books but also practical books which have enabled her to develop the survival skills necessary to survive her parents house.

Emmeline also has a satchel she brings everywhere with her filled with useful tools. Scientific equipment and at least two books.

I liked ‘Thing’ as a character much more than I liked Emmeline on first impressions. I thought he had something interesting about him, his own story.

“Something moved to Emmeline’s left, and her gaze was caught by a dusty head emerging from a grating in the wall. The head- the colour of whose hair was impossible to determine – was swiftly followed by a grubby body dressed in overalls. The fingernails of this creature were clotted with dirt and oil, and it’s – his? – face was smeared with grease.”

When Thing and Emmeline come back to her cabin after exploring they are shocked to see two men ransacking her cabin and flees with Thing. Thing helps her find somewhere to hide but it isn’t long before she finds herself in trouble again, kidnapped and taken North.

Thing is distraught and knows he must help her but how can he when he doesn’t know where to begin looking for her and the adults who want to rescue are reluctant to let him come along.

As an adult reading this book it wasn’t for me but I think a child of middle grade age would definitely enjoy it.

*I received a free review copy of this novel via NetGalley. The decision to review and my opinions are my own.*

I’m all excited to be writing this review, as I absolutely loved this book and was sorry to put it down!

This the book I wanted Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials series to be: an epic children’s adventure, steampunk-ish style, but where I clinically enjoyed Lyra’s adventures with no real emotional investment, I immediately engaged with The Eye of the North and almost cheered/gasped/groaned aloud as events unfolded.

The opening sentence of this book is arresting, and the early chapters reminded me somewhat of Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events. I found I instantly empathised with Emmeline (one of my favourite fictional characters is the archaeologist Amelia Peabody, from Elizabeth Peters’ Egyptian series, and I could instantly imagine Emmeline as a young Amelia!), and once Thing was introduced I was in character-heaven with their snark and good old-fashioned spunk.

I particularly adored how the young heroes held their own amongst the adult characters, showing bravery, initiative and learned survival skills that thoroughly impressed me. No sitting around waiting for the adults to come up with a plan here, or waiting to be rescued by your male co-protagonist. Nope, Emmeline just marshals her resources and grit and gets on with the job at hand.

In terms of story, the plot is well-paced and easy to follow, whilst retaining a few mysteries for (please!) future sequels. There are fantastical creatures and intriguing contraptions galore, but our characters buck the trend by not quite being orphans, or Chosen Ones, and not suddenly exhibiting magical powers, but instead being reliant on themselves, their allies, and whatever they can find in their pockets.

It is the tone though, that really ranks this writer amongst my all-time favourites. Sinéad O’Hart has a light, humourous, snarky touch that brings her characters sparkling to life and caused me to use the Kindle highlight function more than I have ever done in my life (er, never that I recall!). Whilst I personally enjoy any and all fiction, it is these books that nod their heads at real life, then grin and wink, that I come back to again and again in my own personal reading library (Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Tom Holt, Elizabeth Peters, to name just a few). The Eye of the North is definitely joining their ranks!

So a glowing review from me for this one. I can’t think of any aspect that did not work for me in this book, and I wholeheartedly and eagerly await the next novel from Sinéad O’Hart, whether it be more Widgets (*nods enthusiastically*), or something new but equally captivating.


“Well I…” Emmeline began. “It’s sort of hard to explain.” Particularly when you don’t understand it yourself, she thought, picking absentmindedly at a loose thread on the buckle of her satchel.
“Fascinatin’ story, that,” said Thing after a minute.

– Sinéad O’Hart, The Eye of the North

(Review by Steph Warren of Bookshine and Readbows blog)

Sadly, neither myself nor my 11 year old daughter really liked this story very much. We read this for our mother daughter bookclub of two. My daughter abandoned it after about 20% saying that the book was slow and confusing and that she did not get the world, I made it to about 30% before throwing in the towel. On paper, totally our kind of thing, in reality, sadly not at all.

The Eye of the North follows ever-prepared Emmeline Widget, daughter of two very secretive scientists as she embarks on an adventure to the frozen wastes of Greenland after they mysteriously disappear.

The Eye of the North is certainly a very fast-moving and well-paced adventure. There is barely any set up in building the scene of Emmeline’s interesting and unusual home life before her parents disappear and she is shipped off to a distant relative and the adventure begins. The story arch is a good one, it never lets up it’s pace and you aren’t left feeling like any part is dragging. The setting of Greenland is great and it reminded me of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights in places. One of the twists near the end really upset me though – I’m not sure how middle-grade readers will respond to it!

I found the writing style to be engaging and amusing, with lots of detail in certain places but I feel like the detail started to run out towards the end of the book. The North Witch seemed like a fantastic character but she wasn’t very well described and didn’t really have too much of a role to play which was a shame. Perhaps she is left vague as to inspire children’s imaginations and keep it from becoming too scary but I did feel she could have become a great villain if a little more time had been spent on developing her. The creatures mentioned towards the end of the book were also not very well described, some just as ‘short, ugly and slightly mouldy-looking’ which didn’t really fire my imagination too much!

I really enjoyed Emmeline as a character, a strong young lady who is a touch paranoid but always prepared for the unexpected. I thought Thing’s character was a little confusing, he seems far too invested in finding Emmeline although they have barely met and he is given a little bit of a backstory – his Dad trying to make him a circus performer, but not really enough to make him a fully developed character. As half of the book is in his perspective and not Emmeline’s I feel like this should have been addressed.

Overall it’s a fast-paced, adventurous race through the frozen wastes of Greenland but I thought under-developed characters and missed opportunities let it down. Thank you to Little Tiger Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Eye of the North in exchange for an honest review.