Moonchild: City of the Sun

Moonchild #2

by Aisha Bushby

The second book in a magical middle grade adventure series, inspired by The Arabian Nights and perfect for readers of Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Michelle Harrison and Sophie McKenzie.

The Sahar Peninsula lies just beyond the horizon, but it isn't the easiest place to get to. No maps will take you there, nor can it be charted by gazing up at the stars, or down at a compass…

Farah and her lizard jinn, Layla, are travelling through a vast desert – returning to their village home after their adventures with Amira and Leo in Moonchild: Voyage of the Lost and Found. Farah is desperate to see her sister again, but then she discovers a hidden city – full of people who have concealed their magic for many years. At first Farah thinks she has found new friends, but everything is not what it seems and dark magic lies just beneath the surface …

Genres: Childrens

187 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 29, 2021

About the author

Aisha Bushby was selected as one of only four previously unpublished authors in the Stripes anthology for BAME writers, A Change is Gonna Come, alongside writers such as Patrice Lawrence, Tanya Byrne and Nikesh Shukla. The anthology was awarded a YA Book Prize Special Achievement Award. Since then she has been taking part in panels, interviews and events across the UK, from Bristol Waterstones to Manchester Academy, Birmingham Literature Festival to Southbank YALW, BBC Radio 3 to Buzzfeed. A Pocketful of Stars is her debut novel.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed by this. It still had some great ideas and I loved the characters, it just felt more forced than the first installment, a bit all over the place, too predictable and neatly wrapped. Some of the vocab didn't really work for me either. Just as one example - mice don't have fangs! I think this needed more time to develop.

[Tammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read- December 2021
- I do think this series has been a lot of fun to read but it's reads just a bit too young for me.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this but not quite as kuch as the first book. It seemed slower and almost felt like it was trying to hard to "teach" the reader some mind of moral - about finding who you are or not the importance of working together/letting people help you. Both fine lessons to learn but I found it a little obvious or forced. I did still enjoy the stories within the story and I really like all the jinn.

[Nessa [October Tune] · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was lush. A wonderful land filled with magic, storytelling and friends. I love how this was so intertwined with book 1 but had an identity of its own. The end made me shes a tear or two. Aisha is a wonderful storyteller and I hope we get more from this land because I just adore it. The characters are so wonderful and I love the integration of messages around emotions - it’s important we feel them all!

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the first one

[Sifa Poulton · Rating 4 out of 5]

CITY OF THE SUN is from Farah's perspective rather than Amira's, but starts with Amira's narration - and then Farah breaking in to disagree about how the story should be told. Then she takes over as narrator. It's a really nice way of easing you into the book and the new narrator, particularly if you've just come from the previous book.

Like the previous entry, it still has that mix of prose chapters, stories, and a few fourth wall break sections. There's a bit more of a direct challenge to the reader in the fourth-wall breaks and less of a meta reading to it. The ending is very much a challenge/inspiration note.

The stories this time are less mythical creatures and/or heroes on adventures, and more creation mythology. It's a nice difference from VOYAGE OF THE LOST AND FOUND, and matches the difference in focus. VOYAGE was a quest-like adventure, while CITY is more a learning about magic book.

We explore the magic more deeply, both the moon magic of the previous book and its counterpart, sun magic. There are consequences to what happened in the first book, and those play out, linking the two magics together.

The book clearly ends in such a way that indicates that further books are unlikely - as the reader has been told to take on the story. However, it has the feeling (created by that evocation of the oral story telling tradition) that there's a lot more happening in the world. Could other stories be written in the world? Yes. It has the feel of a world that's lived in and contains many more magical creatures and adventures. And that's part of the charm - it's a world that exist beyond the scope of the books.

[Cute Rabbit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book.After I read book one I was really shocked to what happened .I really wanted to read book 2 and I just finished it.I loved these duology .I really liked reading about Farah’s story and I really like how all the moo children worked together at the end which was really good.👍🏾 I like how these series are woven by other stories in the middle which makes it really interesting to read.Always will love this quote “Everyone has a story to tell”

[:) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book but it was quite predictable and so, quite boring
Overall, the adventure was OK but not the best