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The Islands Of Fandye
On the 21st of January 2006, a twelve-year-old girl called Antigone was astonished when she spotted a whale in the river Thames outside her house on Cheyne Walk in London.Later that evening the little girl travelled to Cornwall to stay with her aunt in a tiny castle overlooking the sea. While exploring the beach, she found a bronze lantern rolling in the waves, which she took back to her bedroom. That night she was awoken by hundreds of multi-coloured lights, darting around her room, and far off, over the sea, on the horizon.Mesmerised, the little girl headed out into the night where she found a small boat on the rocks below. She set sail for the lights and embarked on an epic adventure that was to be nothing short of extraordinary. For that night, Antigone crossed over the horizon to a land kept secret from the human world; an archipelago of magical islands beyond your wildest dreams, where unbelievable creatures live and wishes can come true... Antigone had entered the Islands of Fandye.
149 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 22, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 15, 2019
I read this as it was suggested it was “the new Harry Potter”. Whoever suggested that has obviously never read Harry Potter. Deary me.
January 21, 2019
It was hard for me to decide on how many stars to give this book. On the one hand, the story deserves five stars. Ollie clearly has a vivid imagination. There are some really interesting ideas and some quite good metaphors. He doesn't shy away from dark themes, which is refreshing. The story is not overrun with cliches, either. It's a truly interesting and unique tale.
Where it falls short is how it's written, though. It took a lot of time to get into the groove of the narration because the narrator speaks directly to the reader a lot. A lot. To the point that you don't feel like you're reading a story, but being told a story. I don't know if this was his intention, but it's offsetting. There are a lot of fourth wall breaks that take the reader out of the story.
What's worse, though, is that Ollie has a bad habit of telling rather than showing. These two reasons, the narration and the telling is what knocked off a star. It's most likely caused by the narration style of being told a story rather than being in the story. It's a shame. It's a real shame because there are a lot of situations that I would like to experience instead of be told about.
What knocks off the second star is not Ollie's fault, but his editor's. I think I found one misspelled word. No biggie. It was a homonym. Spellcheck would miss it. But if Ollie's editor doubled as a proof-reader then it should have been caught. That's not her biggest downfall, though. Her biggest downfall was structure. If characters are conversing then their dialogue is all grouped into one paragraph instead of being separated onto separate lines for each time a new character speaks. It gets confusing. It creates a text wall. And ... it gets confusing.
All in all, this is a good book. The story really saves it. It's worth reading. It's worth continuing. I'm invested in the story and want to know what happens next. Hopefully Ollie gets some guidance and gives us a fully realized world to explore without hand-holding in the next book.
Where it falls short is how it's written, though. It took a lot of time to get into the groove of the narration because the narrator speaks directly to the reader a lot. A lot. To the point that you don't feel like you're reading a story, but being told a story. I don't know if this was his intention, but it's offsetting. There are a lot of fourth wall breaks that take the reader out of the story.
What's worse, though, is that Ollie has a bad habit of telling rather than showing. These two reasons, the narration and the telling is what knocked off a star. It's most likely caused by the narration style of being told a story rather than being in the story. It's a shame. It's a real shame because there are a lot of situations that I would like to experience instead of be told about.
What knocks off the second star is not Ollie's fault, but his editor's. I think I found one misspelled word. No biggie. It was a homonym. Spellcheck would miss it. But if Ollie's editor doubled as a proof-reader then it should have been caught. That's not her biggest downfall, though. Her biggest downfall was structure. If characters are conversing then their dialogue is all grouped into one paragraph instead of being separated onto separate lines for each time a new character speaks. It gets confusing. It creates a text wall. And ... it gets confusing.
All in all, this is a good book. The story really saves it. It's worth reading. It's worth continuing. I'm invested in the story and want to know what happens next. Hopefully Ollie gets some guidance and gives us a fully realized world to explore without hand-holding in the next book.
December 30, 2018
I received this book for Christmas following reviews suggesting it may be the new 'Harry Potter'. Sadly, it is not.
Whilst this book is clearly aimed at children, to suggest it may be for 'young adults' is patronising. It is written in extremely simple English, and is probably a good read for those 10 and under. It felt like a rushed tale, in a world which could have been described and journeyed in much more detail - it was all too often that years and journeys would disappear in a matter of sentences.
Disappointing.
Whilst this book is clearly aimed at children, to suggest it may be for 'young adults' is patronising. It is written in extremely simple English, and is probably a good read for those 10 and under. It felt like a rushed tale, in a world which could have been described and journeyed in much more detail - it was all too often that years and journeys would disappear in a matter of sentences.
Disappointing.
January 24, 2019
I read a review that said this was the next Harry Potter, and then I read one that said whoever wrote that one obviously hadn’t read Harry Potter. The latter, unfortunately, was correct. I adore Ollie Locke, and am so disappointed at this effort. He has obviously published himself in some way, and whatever editors he had severely let him down. It reads like the first few unedited chapters of a book. It’s too short, needs more fleshing out, and better editing. We are introduced to so many names and places far too soon, and we are told about things rather than shown them. An idea is planted in your head about what may happen later in the book then it happens in the next paragraph. It’s cringeworthy reading for a writer and fantasy lover. Ollie if you want some help next time I’m sure even I could do a better job, please feel free to give me a shout as your ideas are fabulous, just the execution is rather flat.
December 28, 2019
I was intrigued to read this book as I had heard great things about it, but to be honest I'm just not sure, hence three stars.
The premise is interesting, but I think the main issue with the book is its too short to get properly going and as a result 145 pages make it feel far too rushed. You can also tell it's been self published with grammatical errors and far too much 'telling not showing'.
Definitely a book aimed at pre teens with an interest in magic and fantasy stories. I did enjoy the silly names for the enemies like Bumpindanites (bump in the nights) and at its heart is a lovely story about good versus evil. It just, sadly, was poorly executed.
Ollie tries to explain all the ideas he came up with as a child holiday in gin Cornwall, when actually somethings just did not add to the story as they distracted from the main story focus. It was frustrating that you had to wait for over 45 pages to have the child Antigone cross to Fandyne, before that was all the fluff of why the island existed and who was in charge and a tenuous link of why she was drawn to the magical world.
A good effort but think more pages would help really develop the characters, storylines and description, Ollie needs to stop rushing and craft his writing voice by focusing on one aspect of the story and fleshing it out, but crucially say less about how he wants Fandyne to look, readers like to create worlds in their heads!!!
The premise is interesting, but I think the main issue with the book is its too short to get properly going and as a result 145 pages make it feel far too rushed. You can also tell it's been self published with grammatical errors and far too much 'telling not showing'.
Definitely a book aimed at pre teens with an interest in magic and fantasy stories. I did enjoy the silly names for the enemies like Bumpindanites (bump in the nights) and at its heart is a lovely story about good versus evil. It just, sadly, was poorly executed.
Ollie tries to explain all the ideas he came up with as a child holiday in gin Cornwall, when actually somethings just did not add to the story as they distracted from the main story focus. It was frustrating that you had to wait for over 45 pages to have the child Antigone cross to Fandyne, before that was all the fluff of why the island existed and who was in charge and a tenuous link of why she was drawn to the magical world.
A good effort but think more pages would help really develop the characters, storylines and description, Ollie needs to stop rushing and craft his writing voice by focusing on one aspect of the story and fleshing it out, but crucially say less about how he wants Fandyne to look, readers like to create worlds in their heads!!!
April 22, 2022
Actual rating: 2.5 / 5
This was cute. I think I preferred the first half of the tale more than the second and probably would have rated it a bit higher had it felt similar.
As it stands, I thought there was too much added the second half, especially for such a short read, but I guess all these bits of information could keep a child's mind focused and entertained. For myself, it just read as a bit all over the place and not entirely driven.
I think some scenes were a bit unsettling for a younger audience. Some of the plots of Sorlax and his minions were a bit too dark and twisted for a middlegrade reader level villain.
From the authors note, you learn that he started this concept at a young age so considering this, this story is quite impressive and unique, however, it really could have done with more editing (perhaps saving some reveals for the sequel), to make it read more steadily and less chaotic.
Final thoughts are: a decent story that had good potential, but execution was a little messy and lost my interest after the switch in narrative half way through.
If the trilogy does continue and the books continue to be a smaller page count, I'd probably read on. I got this copy in a charity shop, so if I found the others this way, or through the library, I'd give them a go, because I personally wouldn't pay full price.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
This was cute. I think I preferred the first half of the tale more than the second and probably would have rated it a bit higher had it felt similar.
As it stands, I thought there was too much added the second half, especially for such a short read, but I guess all these bits of information could keep a child's mind focused and entertained. For myself, it just read as a bit all over the place and not entirely driven.
I think some scenes were a bit unsettling for a younger audience. Some of the plots of Sorlax and his minions were a bit too dark and twisted for a middlegrade reader level villain.
From the authors note, you learn that he started this concept at a young age so considering this, this story is quite impressive and unique, however, it really could have done with more editing (perhaps saving some reveals for the sequel), to make it read more steadily and less chaotic.
Final thoughts are: a decent story that had good potential, but execution was a little messy and lost my interest after the switch in narrative half way through.
If the trilogy does continue and the books continue to be a smaller page count, I'd probably read on. I got this copy in a charity shop, so if I found the others this way, or through the library, I'd give them a go, because I personally wouldn't pay full price.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
April 30, 2025
Having borrowed this book from my sister ages ago and leaving it on my tbr pile since forever I decided to give it a read over the Easter holidays.
I had such high hopes for the book, the cover straight away jumps out at me, the name gives me fantasy Narnia vibes and the description on the back says read me.
The book is short with large font and only about 140pages which took me about an hour to read. The storyline feels rushed a lot of description but not enough development in to the dialogue and characters.
The book seemed a little rushed as if he couldn’t go over the 140pages so Ollie’s moves quickly from one thing to the next rather then take the time to really let his imagination continue to flow.
The ending could have been transformed in to so much more had Ollie taken another year to write this book I think it could have possibly been the next Narnia but at the moment it is letting it self down.
Overall the story is brilliant and imaginative. If Ollie was to continue the trilogy and allow himself the time he could really bring this book up in my ratings the story is there he just needs a bit more finesse.
I had such high hopes for the book, the cover straight away jumps out at me, the name gives me fantasy Narnia vibes and the description on the back says read me.
The book is short with large font and only about 140pages which took me about an hour to read. The storyline feels rushed a lot of description but not enough development in to the dialogue and characters.
The book seemed a little rushed as if he couldn’t go over the 140pages so Ollie’s moves quickly from one thing to the next rather then take the time to really let his imagination continue to flow.
The ending could have been transformed in to so much more had Ollie taken another year to write this book I think it could have possibly been the next Narnia but at the moment it is letting it self down.
Overall the story is brilliant and imaginative. If Ollie was to continue the trilogy and allow himself the time he could really bring this book up in my ratings the story is there he just needs a bit more finesse.
July 12, 2021
I love Ollie Locke and so was excited to read this. However, his writing is really terrible. It may be a story intended for children but the content is probably too traumatic for young children, and the plot not complex enough for older children, so I'm left baffled as to who the target audience actually is. The editing was also really poor, I found at least two blatant typing errors which should have been picked up, and someone should have really made Ollie rethink the use of phrases like "I promise you". It honestly felt like I was reading a book written by a child who has been taught the "formula" for story writing, and thus created a piece of fiction that is just predictable and rather dull. Such a shame, as the idea was quite good but the execution just awful. This could have been a much longer book, with more development of the characters, their connections to one another, and greater detail of all the events. Instead it felt rushed. Really disappointing.
January 2, 2019
This book had some excellent elements to it; some of the language was wonderful, and really created vivid pictures in my mind. However, there were times when months or years went by in a sentence, and I even noticed some spelling and grammatical errors in the book, which was disappointing, and should have been picked up before publishing.
The dialogue was also lacking substance.
I would probably read the next book in the series, but that would be mainly down to the way the story ended, and wanting to know what happens next. That was done rather well.
It will now be living in my book box in my classroom in the hope that some of my year 6's will enjoy it a little more than myself.
The dialogue was also lacking substance.
I would probably read the next book in the series, but that would be mainly down to the way the story ended, and wanting to know what happens next. That was done rather well.
It will now be living in my book box in my classroom in the hope that some of my year 6's will enjoy it a little more than myself.
March 17, 2019
Definitely not “the new Harry Potter”. I like Ollie, but no. A generous two stars because the ideas are nice, but the level of detail is minimal and it reads like someone providing a brief summary of a story, rather than a story itself. I thought if it was for young adults it might be readable as an adult but to say that is a bit insulting to young adults as it’s definitely a children’s book. Won’t be bothering with the rest...
April 13, 2019
As other people have said this is a difficult one to rate. The story is good, some of the ideas are fresh and interesting, but... the story felt rushed, the world was not explored enough, and it was hard to be completely absorbed. I have stuck to three stars, as I liked the idea, and some of the unique elements, and I think with a little more guidance and patience the following instalments will be worth a read.
August 21, 2019
A good bedtime story. It really is extremely short however tells a beautiful story. I read it in under an hour however I am a fairly fast reader. I will definitely read the 2nd book in the trilogy if at least double the length. I got the book on a half price deal and would say that for the price it was worth it but would not pay full price for such a short book. I can not fault the story itself and would happily read it to my children.
June 4, 2020
The plot was ok if a little stereotypical - evil guy trys to steal the throne and is defeated/ child who was hidden at birth is the true heir to the throne - but mostly it was just very dull prose. So much more could have been done with this if there was even a little decent description. And I can't understand why no proof reader picked up on the speech of different characters all being on the same line, it makes it less clear who is speaking and is irritating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2026
A TOUCHING fairy tale mixing Cornish folk stories with a twist, this relatively short novel is a captivating debut.
A 12 year old girl neglected by an absent mum has her life transformed when she sees a dying whale stuck in the mud banks of the River Thames near her London home.
For there is another world that neither she nor any of us knew about, just beyond the horizon. It is a magical, dangerous land and war is brewing...
A 12 year old girl neglected by an absent mum has her life transformed when she sees a dying whale stuck in the mud banks of the River Thames near her London home.
For there is another world that neither she nor any of us knew about, just beyond the horizon. It is a magical, dangerous land and war is brewing...
December 19, 2018
I have been a fan of Ollie's for quite some time so I was excited when he announced he had a new novel.
This book was a great read for all ages. Ollie is a brilliant story teller. I would recommend it to people who love Harry Potter and other fantasy novels. The ending was great and I am looking forward to the next installment!
This book was a great read for all ages. Ollie is a brilliant story teller. I would recommend it to people who love Harry Potter and other fantasy novels. The ending was great and I am looking forward to the next installment!
October 4, 2022
When I bought this book I didn't realise it is aimed at a young audience, or who the author is. However, I enjoyed the story, albeit written in a very simplistic way and I felt that it could be made much longer with more details. Apparently it is the first in a trilogy and I would probably be interested in reading the next two books.
January 4, 2019
This was hailed the next Harry Potter. I have to disagree.
Although the story is good, I do not like the writing style, it's very repetitive and descriptive without really having any depth.
Not in the same league as JK Rowling or Philip Pullman.
Although the story is good, I do not like the writing style, it's very repetitive and descriptive without really having any depth.
Not in the same league as JK Rowling or Philip Pullman.
January 11, 2019
I found this book interesting to read. I really felt like I was in the Islands of Fandye with Antigone. Although I was a little disappointed when I heard this was the next Harry Potter (it is not) , but it was OK nonetheless.
February 4, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed the story line of this book. However, I found the clunkiness if addressing the reader often broke the narration of the story. I will read the rest of the trilogy though to find out what happens!
May 27, 2021
This was such a lovely story,I did feel like it was just getting started when it ended though,Ollie has a fantastic imagination & his writing style is lovely but I do think it could have benefited from stronger editing & being fleshed out a bit more.
August 3, 2021
I enjoyed this book after I had gotten into it and did want to finish it and see what happens in the end. I found the way it was written a little child-like/basic which is why it work me a while to fully get into it.
September 11, 2024
It was a fine enough children's fantasy book. I read it in London, and I'm not sure that anything particularly stood out, good or bad. It would be a great book to read to a young elementary student, introducing them to the world of fantasy.
December 17, 2018
Really enjoyed this book, quite a quick read but so magical. Perfect for Christmas and great for any age :)
December 29, 2018
What a great book
What an amazing fairytale books this is I can't wait to read the next edition so come on Ollie get writing
What an amazing fairytale books this is I can't wait to read the next edition so come on Ollie get writing
January 10, 2019
Don’t bother! I came across some spelling and grammar errors. Storyline is all over the place and was very rushed. One star from me.
January 11, 2019
great escapism read. looking forward to the next book in the trilogy
January 23, 2019
Went into this with high hopes. There is nothing really wrong with this book, as long as your 7. It is definitely a children’s book.
April 17, 2019
Amazing
Brilliant book couldn't put it down really forward to the next one in the trilogy. would recommend brilliant read for all ages
Brilliant book couldn't put it down really forward to the next one in the trilogy. would recommend brilliant read for all ages
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June 9, 2020Good 1at book but it does leave you wanting to find out more
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews