‘Of course you have never heard of Spellhounds. They are one of The Three Great Secrets of Hallow.’
I may be many, many years older than Ms Tanner’s intended audience for junior fiction, but I love the way she creates interesting worlds with fascinating creatures, and invites the reader in.
‘Spellhound’ (the first book of a new series), is set in Hallow. Hallow has Three Great Secrets (and yes, you will know what they are by the end of the story). Our three main characters are Flax (a very small minch-wiggin), a ten-year-old Queen, and a large magical pup. Flax is known as Destroyer-of-Dragons, a title she’s not entirely happy with, even though she does have access to some magic. But Minchfold, where she lives, is under threat. The Queen and the pup have their own reasons for wanting to find the dragon and the three of them join forces.
There are lots of adventures, plenty of danger, magic, as well as a talking sword and a few green jellybabies. Short, sharp chapters finishing with a cliffhanger kept me reading. I had to know how this story would end and whether each of our main characters would (or could) confront their demons.
My only regret is that I don’t have a nearby young person to share this story with.
I finished the novel, keen to read the next instalment and not at all surprised that ‘Spellhound’ won the 2023 Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Fiction. The novel is beautifully illustrated by Sally Soweol Han.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 
I won’t read this but I have grabbed a couple of junior fiction books from neighbourhood libraries over the last year with the intention of seeing how I go with them as an old bloke in his mid-sixties. I intend to do this when I finally give work away in a couple of years’ time, maybe reliving my youth lol?
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