Zachary's Odyssey

Zachary's Odyssey by Antoinette Conolly (selfpublished by Antoinette Conolly)
PB RRP $16 plus $4 postage and handling
ISBN 0977586006
Reviewed by Julie Sutton

Zachary is staying with his Aunt Jane and unable to sleep one night he wanders outside. Aunt Jane's cat follows him and the two stumble upon a cave. Zachary trips and lands on a stone which whirs and spins. The next thing Zachary knows is that he is in a forest with a cat which is nearly as large as him, talks and calls himself Mactavish.

Zachary and Mactavish must now find their way home. In the quest the two come across talking and walking trees, strange cities populated by chess pieces or robots and villages where dolls talk in rhyme to name just a few of the creatures they meet. In Faunalia, where animals rule, Zachary and Mactavish gain an audience with the Grand Wizard, a two metre high white unicorn. They find out that they must find their way home to Wattle Bay in the next three days or be trapped in the world of Cauchemar forever. On their last part of their journey to a corridor back to Earth, they must travel across lands of vicious and ugly beasts which tear apart their prey.

Fortunately, the two find their way with assistance and they find their way back to home. Aunt Jane is none the wiser and Mactavish has returned to cat size and Zachary can longer hear him speak.

Zachary's Odyssey is the first book in the Cauchemar Trilogy.