When Lily Jones steals an advent calendar she gets trapped in a spectacular world. To escape, she has to find twenty-four doors and rescue a god. Each door is a challenge; Lily has to ride, swim and fly her way across oceans and deserts to unlock them. On her journey she meets Celeste, a clever angel, Marcus, a punk who hates Celeste, and Dylan, a speed-satyr who loves everyone. To survive, Lily has to learn to trust her companions, solve the mysteries of Onomatopoeia Glade and avoid the malevolent Red Girl.
The Calendar/ Book One is the first in a series of novels charting the liberation, destruction and regeneration of an undiscovered land.
I loved this book. It's strange and great for escapism, but has darker undertones to it. Lily the protagonist is slightly lost in her own world, as well as the one she gets transported into when she unlocks the door of an advent calendar.
Except for the portal being an advent calendar, there isn't more reference to Christmas!
Lily meets three more characters who confuse, help and befriend her as she makes her way in a fantastical land. They've got their own agenda - they need Lily to save their home, as much as she needs them to find her way back!
The Calendar is really colourful and full of unusual characters and situations, the Siniks were a bit scary and I didn't like the Skeptiks AT ALL. I fell in love with Dylan, he's really funny!