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The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst
2021 - Shortlisted
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst is the third stand-alone tale in Jaclyn Moriarty’s excellent Kingdoms and Empires series. Characters from previous books reappear to welcome readers back into the inimitable fantasy world of Spindrift but the star of this story is twelve-year-old Esther Mettlestone-Staranise. Esther feels ordinary and wishes that she was special. She is bullied by her teacher and neglected by her mother. When she discovers Shadow Mages and other evil forces are encroaching, she must act.
Much of the humour stems from the underlying idiosyncratic voice and dialogue as well as through the actions of eccentric humans and the imagined characters of Radish Gnomes, Crystal Faeries and Ogre. Within the context of this multifaceted, classy novel, the author helps young readers explore uncomfortable truths through whimsical humour. Esther and her peers and family must face discrimination, problems with the oceans and rising seawaters and take responsibility despite great suffering “to defeat evil and do good”.
Junior judges' comments
The Stolen Prince of Cloudburst, by author Jaclyn Moriarty, is an amazing novel that had serious themes with underlying humour throughout the entire story. I was so captivated I read it cover to cover in one weekend. I highly recommend this book to children aged 9+. I absolutely love this book so much that I want to go to the nearest bookstore and purchase Jaclyn Moriarty's other books, as she is such an innovative and creative author.