Henry and the Guardians of the Lost

by Jenny Nimmo

"The yellow letter arrived on a Saturday, otherwise Henry would have been at school. The envelope was such a bright, sunny colour, no one would have believed that it contained a bombshell. Less than 10 minutes after the arrival of the mysterious letter, Henry is on the run with his Auntie Pearl, possibly never to return home. Henry has a secret. He is twelve, but he hasn't aged a day since the moment he was thrust a hundred years into the future. Now his secret has put him in danger. His only hope is the protection of the Guardians of the Lost.


Interest 9+"

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade

256 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2016

About the author

Jenny Nimmo was born in Windsor, Berkshire, England and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey from the age of six until the age of sixteen, when she ran away from school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. She graduated and acted in repertory theater in various towns and cities: Eastbourne, Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Hastings, and Bexhill.

She left Britain to teach English to three Italian boys in Almafi, Italy. On her return, she joined the BBC, first as a picture researcher, then as an assistant floor manager, studio manager (news) then finally a director/adaptor with Jackanory (a BBC storytelling program for children). She left BBC to marry a Welsh artist David Wynn Millward and went to live in Wales in her husband's family home. They live in a very old converted watermill, and the river is constantly threatening to break in, as it has done several times in the past, most dramatically on her youngest child's first birthday. During the summer they run a residential school of art, and she has to move her office, put down tools (type-writer and pencil, and don an apron and cook! They have three grown-up children, Myfawny, Ianto, and Gwenwyfar.

Reviews

[Just_me · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a strange yet engaging story. I feel that there is so much more to know, I'm sure there must be a story before and a story or more to follow because this book has just a snippet of Henry's story.
I love the small fairy folk and the brave cat and loyal cat.
I need more of this story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me acces to an ARC to read and review.

[Lio · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is quite simply just a very boring and poorly written book that reads like a first draft in need of a lot more work. At the start, we get a little information about Henry's past, but it's a confusing little infodump that leaves more questions than it answers, and seems to skip the most interesting part of the story and Henry's bigger problem (he somehow time-travels to the future, outliving his parents, and then is unable to age) like it doesn't really matter at all now, for an abandonment plot in a strange town called Timeless. The writing is flat and boring, with almost no emotion, and lots of passive voice. I got a quarter of the way through and still didn't really care about Henry or his predicament about being left in this town, it just wasn't engaging at all. I honestly can't imagine trying to read this to a child, either -- I think a child's deeper patience and attention for books would run out very quickly with this one. It's a story that should be interesting and quirky but is just really dull and needs a lot more work.

[Stanislav Lozanov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the idea of the book when I first read the synopsis. However, the execution was not what I expected. The "worldbuilding" if I can call it like that was brief and left me questioning several thing. I know it's a children's book but I just couldn't help it but judge it as any other book.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really loved this book. It was wonderfully written, had an intriguing plot and the characters (especially Ankaret!) were all interesting. The only problem (and the reason why I didn't give it five stars) is that the ending was too abrupt for me. Of course, there was some resolution, particularly for Henry (since he got back home and all), but I really wanted to see what would happen to Ankaret after she returned with Henry to Oceanview. I would've liked to read something more about her future.

And I really hope that Jenny Nimmo might think about making a sequel of this book someday, because I really would love to read more about the Shaidi, the Princess, the witches in the Littles House, Christian, Lucy, and Ankaret. Especially Ankaret. I know she technically has her happy ending now, but I've come to really love her and her character while reading this book and I would love to see more of her in future books. Also it really feels like there was some ship-tease between Henry and Ankaret in this book and it would be interesting to see future interactions between them.
And last of all, I would love to read more about these Guardians of the Lost, and Treasure and Pearl's history, and the other Time Twisters that are apparently scattered around the world.

And that's about all I've got to say. :)

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story dovetails into the Charlie Bone universe. Henry is only one of several children pulled out of their right time and place, he learns. A sudden flight, then...refuge or abandonment? A strange, frightening place, out of time. An old house, an island of safety in a sinister regime, all fenced off from reality. Henry finds out that he is very brave. I loved the shaidi and their secret workshop. I feel there is unfinished business in Timeless, though. Some excellent magical characters introduced.

[Judy Wollin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Auntie Pearl drove like crazy, speeding, on and on. Henry sat at the café table with his cat Enkidu on his lap and waited for Auntie to come back. She didn’t. The note said she had to be gone within the hour.
Penny and Peter invited Henry to their house. That’s when things didn’t feel right. Henry sensed danger. His cat ran into the woods and Henry followed. What did he find and why was his cat a problem?
I enjoyed the mystery of Henry’s journey.
Recommended for middle grade 8+

[Michael Elwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok, but felt a bit rushed. Not as many elements as the charlie bone series that I read long ago. I liked the charlie bone series better.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a child and I haven't read the Charlie books, but I did enjoy reading this and thought it would be a great book for any child, particularly one with imagination.

[Mega Charlie Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book seemed longer than it was on account of how boring it was. Story seemed pretty pointless as there didn't seem to be much of a plot

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a bit strange to read. All the time I felt like I was missing something, that this should be a second book in a series or something. Now I was just thrown into this world with time travel through marbles and people being unable to age and I just didn't get it. how these these marbles work? Where do they come from? Tell me more about Henry, and so on. Most of the time I am annoyed by authors who decide to write an entire series while they actually only have one good story and the rest is sh*t (example: 90% of all trilogies out there!) Well, in this case, I wanted it to be a series, because by itself the book makes little to no sense at all. There seems to be something missing in the beginning, but there also seems to be something missing at the end. Sure, Henry's story is over, but what about all my questions relating to all the other characters? I still think that I have missed the first book, it is simply not possible to begin something so out of the blue and resolve so little...and if there isn't a book before this? Well, time to write a prequel I would say.
Oh, before I forget: I did like the cat a lot!