Tom Johnson's fantasy novel 'Silver Planet' is a book to instil hope in it's young adult readers. As a teenager with no religious belief to fall back on, I felt the weight of the crushingly depressing realisation that I was mortal. This story might have saved me from a lot of misery and heartache at that time in my life. The author wrote it in response to loss in his own life and the book is the first in a forthcoming series.
The action is set on Opus-Earth and it's sibling planet, Centurian, a universe away. When humans 'pass' on their home planet, their souls are transported to Centurian, where they attach to another, carefully chosen, human and live through them under a new regime in which magic is an everyday, though strictly regulated, occurrence. The secret of human eternal consciousness is kept by birds and their friends and allies, the Grandmasters. The souls journey to their new homes is, however, threatened by the Skulls and their Arc of Darkness, who snatch souls whenever possible and subject them to eternal torture and suffering.
Into this scenario, the aptly named Jonathan Powers erupts, with his unique magical powers, and it takes all the efforts of the birds, the Grandmasters but above all Jonathan himself, to eliminate the Destructive Interference and put the worlds back into kilter.
This thoughtful and enjoyable read is thoroughly exciting yet comforting, and could be a great boost to young adult mental health.
Drena Irish, A LoveReading4Kids Ambassador
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| Primary Genre | Indie Author Books |
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This novel has a bit of everything, space wars, magic and wizards, a little romance, family relationships, fantastic bird characters. Somehow it all seems to work really well. I love that the chapters are named and also headed with which planet they are set on. It’s a fabulous story that I thoroughly enjoyed.
This story is very unique. It is very obvious that the author is passionate about music and also birds.
The story is set on two different planets, Opus and Centurian, which both have a human population. On Centurian the relationship between birds and humans is well known, but on Opus, the humans are oblivious to the fact that the birds are actually watching over and protecting them.
Then two boys lives become intertwined, Jonathan From Opus and Jonathan from Centurian. When one of them falls into a coma, the birds must protect the planets and all humankind from the Skulls, an evil race set to destroy everything.
This novel has a bit of everything, space wars, magic and wizards, a little romance, family relationships, fantastic bird characters. Somehow it all seems to work really well.... Read Full Review
