Mirrorshade

Mirrorshade - Bk 3 written and illustrated by Mike Wilks (Egmont)

PB RRP $18.95

ISBN 978-1-4052-5373-4

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

In the third book of the trilogy, Mel, Wren and Ludo are jailed in the dungeons of Deep Trouble in the Mirrorscape. They are helped to flee by a girl Wren’s age, and the help of Cogito, the thinking machine. Their mission is to find the mirrortree and obtain its fruit so they can be totally free again. But no one knows of this fruit. What it is exactly is for the children to discover.

Here a parallel story begins. Three bad figments identical to the children have been released. Their intention is to find the real children and destroy them, take their place and obtain freedom from the Mirrorscape forever. But these figments are unknown to Mel and his friends.  It is when the real children start to be hunted because of the theft and destruction that the mirrorshades cause that they find out what they are dealing with.

With the help of their friends Goldie and the invisible Pilfer, they escape firedrakes, giant furry spiders, and stare crows amidst lots of comic confusion that occurs in trying to establish to who is who. There are many lessons to be learned for the three children on their search for freedom and truth. Battles between good and evil are metaphorical and literal. They learn that what they had to find was the knowledge that there is a dark and light side to every person and their mirrorshades reflect the side of themselves that they refused to acknowledge. For them to be whole, ‘they must be united with their dark side’ at some stage of their life. Their experiences bring them to a greater understanding of who they are, and of others.

This series is highly imaginative and well constructed. There is a glossary of terms in the Seven Kingdoms and the Mirrorscape, plus a list of the artistic terms used at the back of each book, which helps with the definition of unknown words. 

Mirrorstorm

Mirrorstorm - Bk 2 written and illustrated by Mike Wilks (Egmont)

PB RRP $18.95

ISBN 978-1-4052-3746-8

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Mel, Ludo, and Wren, the first girl to be apprenticed by Ambrosius Blenk, have been commissioned to paint a corner of the ceiling in the Hall of Awakenings. While working back alone, Mel overhears a conspiracy by the order of Ters whose numbers are dwindling, to create storms that release demons on the population of Vlam to cover their devious deeds and sinister plots that support a power play which is underway. They also intend to marry Wren to the hideous demon-sniffer Morg, a creature more horrendous than any imaginings.

The children continue to use a luck-compass that was given to them by Cassatti, the Cloud Sculptor, to find answers and escapes from all the situations they find themselves in. In and out of the canvases, their final challenge is not an easy one. With destruction surrounding them, they must make hard and dangerous choices against fearful odds if they are to save themselves and Vlam, and expose the intended usurper Fa Odem. Even Morg’s final spontaneous action contributes to their success.

Mirrorscape: Book 1

Mirrorscape: Book 1 written and illustrated by Mike Wilks (Egmont)

PB RRP $18.95

ISBN 978-1-4052-4587-6

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Mike Wilks is an award winning artist and the bestselling author of The Ultimate Alphabet and a string of other books. Mirrorscape is the backlist first book of an impressive trilogy which is artistic in every sense of the word. His intricate, detailed background information brings the reader directly into each scene. The storyline of this fantasy trilogy is unique and imaginative as are the characters which win the reader over from the first few words.

Mel is an artistic thirteen year-old boy condemned by his poverty to obscurity. The village priest, Fa Theum, who has nurtured the boy’s talents, sends Mel’s drawings of imaginary beasts to a friend for his opinion.

Dirk Tot, steward to Ambrosius Blenk the greatest artist in the Seven Kingdoms, so impressed with Mel’s work, arrives in person to offer the boy the rare honour of a free apprenticeship in Blenk’s studio. Mel’s father, who has other plans for his son, refuses his permission.

Dirk Tot returns at a later time for an answer but encounters Fa Theum and Mel being severely beaten and secrets the boy away to the city of Vlam. Their attacker is the unrelenting Adolfus Spute, a man of pure evil, who controls the Fifth Mystery that includes Pleasures for anything that come under the category of the fifth sense, sight, and thus Mel’s paintings.

Mel learns of the Five Mysteries that control each of the five senses. Originally formed to regulate and protect the villagers’ trade and produce from unscrupulous merchants, the meagre yearly tithes became extortion payments. Greed and power-lust created the invention of Pleasures, which demanded payment for purchase of the right to improve any existing trade or produce.

Arriving in Vlam, Mel is given over to the head apprentice Groot, the depraved and sadistic nephew of Blenk who is ignorant of any misconduct. He is subjected to bullying, destruction of his property, and punishment for manoeuvred incidents and accidents. But Mel is observant, intelligent and a survivor. He makes friends with Ludo, another apprentice, and Wren, a kitchen maid whose father, a gifted clock maker, has been sent to work in the pigment mines because he couldn’t make a profit for the Pleasures from Time. These three lives are integrated.

Mel learns about corruption and betrayal; about the power of knowledge, observation and silence. He discovers Blenk’s secret painting, a Mirrorscape that leads to other worlds and hybrid creatures which come alive on the other side of the painting. The abuse of this magical entrance leads to more corruption and chaos. It is through Mel’s incredible intelligence and talent that the trio’s lives are saved, only to be cast into new fantastic adventures.

This trilogy written in incredibly creative and perfect prose, will suit readers of the 12 to 112 age group.