Today dear readers I am on the blog tour for Shell : Episode One – The Horse Awakens (Published 29 June 2021) By Chris White. A big thank you to the publishers Ventorros Press for sending me a copy to read and review always appreciated. Also to the wonderful Anne for the invite, you are amazing!
Shell : Episode One – The Horse Awakens
An action-packed, rip-roaring adventure story about a bunch of action heroes who all have one thing in common. They all have shells. When the universe goes crazy, the team assembles to find out who, or what is making the population of every planet act in a really grumpy way. Illustrated and humorous throughout, yet with serious underlying themes of fitting-in and thinking for yourself.
About The Author
Chris is a writer, illustrator and performance poet. He has sold thousands of books world-wide and makes constant appearances at festivals, schools and libraries. He has had many poetry and story books published since his first, BITEY THE VEGGIE VAMPIRE, in 2000. As well as scribbling pictures to accompany his own work, Chris illustrates for other authors too including: Ian Billings, Brian Moses, Joshua Seigal and Neal Zetter.
Chris has featured at many literary festivals , including The Edinburgh Fringe, The Edinburgh Book Festival, The Doha Book Festival and The Cheltenham Book Festival. His poetry performances and writing workshops have taken him all over the world, visiting schools in places such as China, Russia, Vietnam, Jordan, India, Germany and even The Congo, where he held a poetry and illustration workshop in a cave! Chris recently was writer in residence at the Qatar National Library. He has visited thousands of schools and libraries during his writing and illustrating career. Inspiring countless children to be creative and write their own stories, poems and pick up a pencil and start scribbling their own illustrations. Chris has had his poems and pictures broadcast on BBC TV and radio, and worked for the British government and the British Council on various projects.
My Review
In this science fiction adventure for children aged 7 plus the reader explores multiple planets across the galaxy with the heroic team of SHELL. Their mission is to keep the peace and save the entire galaxy from being in a really, really bad mood. Commander Skycrawler the bravest snail in space is sent on a hush hush mission along with his fellow SHELL agents, Pex a strong armadillo who loves action, Professor Speedy McQuick a tortoise who is the brainiest agent of SHELL, Crab Magga aka Mags a deadly crab and Egg-E, Skycrawler’s trusty robot sidekick. Between the team they must uncover what is causing the planets to start fighting amongst each other. There is a lot of unrest around the universe and it’s up to SHELL to find out why.
From the moment you begin reading White places you right in the middle of the action. Commander Skycrawler has landed on planet ‘Violet’ where the Uniduckbears are arguing against Bee like creatures. What is a Uniduckbear I hear you ask, well it is a big duck crossed with a bear with a hint of unicorn. This is just a taste of the utter uniqueness that flows through this story dear reader. The creativity is vast throughout with strange and unusual planets and creatures who begin to argue with each other over the silliest of things. You will quickly get into the flow and where this book is taking you, all you have to do is sit back, relax and snort at the laughs. All SHELL be revealed. You get it?
The narrative throughout is upbeat and resonates a feel good vibe. You find yourself smiling and laughing at the amount of puns and jokes. With strange odd looking creatures with names such as Buttdazzle your face will ache from the sheer amount of smiling you find yourself doing at the bizarreness of this book. Trust me dear reader, it is most amusing to read.
What I enjoyed most about this book is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It plays up to the puns, the jokes and just wants the reader to have a good time whilst also having a space filled adventure. It’s fun and takes you away from the humdrum of everyday life. Keeping in mind this book is aimed for children aged 7 plus, adults listening or reading along are also guaranteed to enjoy. It takes you back to your childhood, reminding you how you laughed at the silliest of things.
I give Shell : Episode One – The Horse Awakens By Chris White a Four out of Five paw rating.
Packed full of puns and highly amusing you will find yourself unable to stop giggling at the madness that is the SHELL universe.
Don’t forget to follow the rest of the blog tour, dates below, enjoy!
Links
Buy a copy
@chriswhitepoet
@VentorrosP
https://www.ventorrospress.com/
Hop hop wiggle wiggle
Bunny’s Pause 
Thanks so much for the blog tour support x