The Elemental Detectives: the first book in a cracking adventure series

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Our young protagonists, Marisee and Robert, set off on a dangerous, magical mission to save London from a grim fate. The revenge-fuelled Shepherdess, who moves between the everyday and the supernatural London worlds, is the perfect weapon. The world-building was a good idea – Georgian London, but with a whole host of elemental spirits filling the city. This beautifully written story is set in an ancient London filled with dragons, ghosts and water spirits – it is absolutely bursting with magic, bound to enchant fans of books such as Nevermore and Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series.

As with her other books, Lawrence has created caring, sensitive and self-aware protagonists of colour in the Elemental Detectives. Alex Wheatle, author of Cane Warriors “BRILLIANT… history and fantasy woven magnificently into a thrilling, magical adventure” – Sophie Anderson, author of The House with the Chicken Legs “A fantastic adventure, packed with rich world building and stunning elemental magic. Event when things go wrong for Marisee and Robert, hope springs forward in different forms, driving them forward. I also enjoyed the exploration of the real world history of the time period through Robert’s experience as a slave, both on a plantation and as part of a London household; while I liked Marisee very much, I think Robert was particularly brilliantly written and I loved how transformative his journey in this book is. Patrice Lawrence continues to champion the voices of British authors and illustrators of colour through her work with schools.As the reader is drawn into the sights and smells of this otherworldly London with Lawrence’s superb world-building craft, we soon learn that a fog of yellow sickness has taken hold across the city, sending all who fall foul into a deep sleep. The climax of this was super enthralling too, and I’m most definitely going to be continuing in the series. p. 3-4) This is what I’d like to see more of – if there are elemental spirits, they probably interacted with human history! This book is a must read (or listen, I loved the audio book) and I'll be working my way through the author's cataloogue. And, finally our heroes: Marisse and Robert, the latter based on the real life 18th century teenager, Jonathan Strong, a significant name in UK Black History which should be shouted much louder.

I just hope that Patrice Lawrence takes the time in future installments to flesh out her ideas more! This book is very similar to Lair of Dreams, so fans of that book should enjoy seeing the action moved across the Atlantic and further into the past. But some are awake and chasing Marisee, controlled by a mysterious Shepherdess, who wants to find Marisee’s grandmother. I didn't think I'd ever relive the first read experience of series like Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, atmospheric, creepy, wonderful, and this book took me to a place I didn't think was possible as an adult reader.Author of the well-loved YA novel Eight Pieces of Silva (2021, Hachette) and Children’s and YA Jhalak Prize winner Patrice Lawrence offers readers a new, middle grade fiction series published by Scholastic UK– The Elemental Detectives. The mystery of what’s going on and who’s behind the sleeping sickness was a good one, with a satisfying villain.

Iconic monuments take on unexpected shape: Hyde Park gives up ghosts; the Serpentine really snaaaaaakes. Step into a London lit up by the Elemental spirits: the fiery Dragons, the airy Fumis, the watery Chads and the earthbound Magogs. Set within the ancient streets of London, the world that Lawrence has created is one which is ruled by the Elemental spirits – the Dragons (fire), the Fumis (air), the Chads (water) and the Magogs (earth). Kelly's particular interest in language acquisition and vocabulary development has led to the publication of her first book, Word Power: Amplifiying vocabulary instruction (2019) - full of ideas for building a language-rich environment and top tips to Power-Up explicit vocabulary instruction. The magic system was super fascinating — your typical four Elementals (air, earth, fire, and water) embodied by different features of London’s atmosphere, subtly changing human (or “Solid”) history under the noses of most.a genuinely creepy villain in the form of a rusty-round the-edges Bo Peep (steel yourself for her lullaby earworm); Turnbell-of-Turnbill-Brook performed by a woman in breeches and waistcoat. Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize. This book (and its characters) focuses strongly on the inequality of eighteenth-century society, and I was glad to see it. Really good portrayal of 18th century London; a real grasp of the limitations of class, race and gender; brilliant use of the elemental/river stories; and an adventure which took us round the city.