Emba Oak and her faithful wasp snake, Whip, are now on their third action-packed adventure. But, this time, they are headed to the sea. The Screaming Sea. So don’t go thinking ice-creams and donkey rides because it’s a bit more ghost armies, bounty hunters, evil Grand Thief Masters, pirate ships, and deadly eight-legged sea monsters than that.
Indeed, as you may glean from David Dean’s spectacular cover, this may be Emba’s most treacherous quest yet.
With her best-albeit-annoying friend Odolf in Necromalcom’s evil clutches, and deeply concerned about her beloved guardian Fred (with only her thick yellow toenail clippings to remember her by), this story is very much “Emba to the rescue!”
And it retains all of Jenny Moore’s signature style of heart, humour and rich imagination – and it’s bursting with all three. From the vividly-imagined world populated with night nibblers, sweat slurpers, and lesser-spotted four-fang spiders, to the hilarious slapstick comedy of Bob and Grimp, a surprisingly tender Grand Thief Master called Beryl and, of course, Emba herself – as human and relatable as ever, despite being partly dragon and partly magical.
And it is Emba’s hopes and fears that make her quest and her motives crystal clear to readers, that make us cheer on our heroine as she sets out to retrieve Odolf’s magic belt buckle, rescue her friend, and find a way to get Fred back from the dragon realm safe and sound.
Oh, and then there’s the small matter of fulfilling her ultimate destiny and defeating the most powerful sorcerer of all time along the way.
With so much to do, It’s no wonder Emba needs a fourth and final adventure – just don’t make us wait too long, Jenny!
