The book industry never stops looking for the next J.K. Rowling. Young authors often receive six-figure advances for their future bestsellers, and film companies buy the rights to film adaptations before the books are actually released. This is what happened to the young English writer A.F. Stedman. In 2022, she released the teen fantasy «Skandar and the Unicorn Thief», and a year later, «Skandar and the Phantom Rider» was released. Both parts have already been published in Ukrainian by «Ranok», and the author herself has signed a contract to write five books in the series. But the main question here is different. Did the genre close to «Harry Potter» and the million-dollar advance help these new products?
Author A. F. Stedman
Translator Svyatoslav Zubchenko
Publisher Morning
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 416, 464
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2023
Size 145×210 mm
Website ranok.com.ua
There is an Island between Great Britain and Ireland, which are on the mainland. There is magic on it, and immortal unicorns with wings and incredible strength live there. People live next to these powerful, graceful animals. Most of them are horsemen who, at the age of 13, choose a unicorn egg and bond with it forever.
Skander Smith wants to be one of these riders. He lives with his sister and father on the Mainland, but he dreams of going to the Island, getting a unicorn, and studying at the magical school there. However, for some reason, the boy is rejected at the official exams. But the teenager is unexpectedly helped by an unfamiliar rider. She secretly takes him to the island, where he finally chooses his unicorn. However, the boy and his new friend belong to the element of magic, which has long been banned on the Island. It is the same element that the evil horseman Weaver, who has been attacking others lately, also possesses. Skander will not only have to face this thief, but also not reveal his element because then his training on the Island will end. It seems that the first year at the new school will be very difficult.
As you can imagine, Skandar Series by A.F. Steadman — series is a classic teenage fantasy about a misfit boy who becomes the chosen one elsewhere. It’s actually still a great read for all other older age groups. The books are written in a bright and modern way, the author’s language is pleasant and bitey, there are a lot of good jokes and funny descriptions of situations, conflicts are well written, etc.
But the new series about «Skander» is primarily recommended for those who are not yet familiar with «Harry Potter» and «Percy Jackson». Because, firstly, it is a combination of these two series, and secondly, an experienced reader will constantly come across familiar plot devices, borrowings, etc.
А. F. Steadman did not steal anything. Do not think so. It’s just that, despite its brightness and interest in reading, the Skandar Series does not add anything new to the genre at all. On the contrary, some moments here are worse, they are repetitive and have long been read in other famous works.
Skander’s adventures fall through the cracks in the depth of the local universe. And although in the second book, he is revealed a little better, but this is not enough for a full immersion in the universe of flying unicorns. Both books, in my opinion, are a bit stretched by unnecessary dialogues and quarrels. Instead, the universe could have been fleshed out.
Also, there is no main villain at all. Yes, a serious mystery has been spun around him, and Weaver is firmly tied to Skander and his family, which allows him to further manipulate the story and think of unusual plot moves. But the antagonist himself, as a tool, as an enemy of the protagonist, is not even close to the level of, for example, Lord Voldemort.
There are also complaints about the local magic system. Here, too, the author didn’t come up with anything interesting, but simply took the elements of fire, water, earth, and wind and added another fifth. As you can see, this has also been around for a long time, everyone has seen it and even recently revisited it in «Avatar».
The last controversial moment was the unicorns. On the one hand, they were written out to be cool, with really funny jokes associated with them, etc. On the other hand, these flying monsters are considered so powerful that the protagonist is worried that the Weaver and his henchmen will break into the Mainland. The author must have never heard of military equipment, airplanes, air defense, etc. Even without the closest acquaintance with all this for us, Ukrainians, readers from other countries of the world also understand that a supermagical flying horse is not a threat to a tank, machine gun, airplane, or missile. That’s why such moments are annoying.
Also, in the local world, riders are very attached to their unicorns. They are like friends, brothers, relatives, partners, and combat sworn brothers in one image. But in fact, this is not felt. The unicorns live separately, and most importantly, they are involved in events as transportation, not as full participants. And yes, they have a lot of features and power, but all this is only according to the author’s descriptions.
А. F. Steadman did the best job with the characters. They turned out to be lively, vivid, and the kind of people you would want to have as friends in your teens. You believe all the characters, sympathize with them and root for them, and these are the most important parameters of success.
And the second book is much better than the first, which means there is a chance that the third will be better than the second, and so on. In the end, we will have a powerful fantasy series that will be more and more interesting to read.
«Skandar and the Unicorn Thief» and «Skandar and the Phantom Rider» are of good quality. The books have detailed covers that easily attract the attention of a potential reader. They have golden cuts, colored flyleaves, maps, etc. The font is large and easy to read. In general, there are zero issues with the printing. I liked that the publishing house «Ranok» did not reinvent the wheel, but simply realized the original cover in a high-quality manner. These books immediately show the genre, target audience, etc. And this, in my opinion, is the most important thing.
