Lord of the Storm 1 – Thunderchild
by S.G.Miles
Paperback £7.99; ISBN 978-0-9551900-6-3; November 2013; SGM Publishing
Digital
Thunderchild is the first volume of Steve Miles’ stunning children’s fantasy adventure trilogy Lord of the Storm.
A young boy, living quietly in a remote rural village, a chance encounter with another youngster, a day of youthful exuberance in the nearby river – and an unexpected, unprovoked attack by daemons…
So begins Gabriel’s adventure, his destiny to come face-to-face with the evil of Yorva, the Black Queen. It is a quest which takes him far from home on a journey fraught with peril from both human and magical assailants, and on a voyage of discovery into his own unrealised powers, his only companions his elderly teacher and his new friend. On their travels, their numbers are swelled by the enigmatic Hooded Man; the teenage son of a river-boatman – and a huge, black Gryphon…
Thunderchild is a story complete in itself – but it is the first of three books which will tell the greater story of Gabriel and his struggle with the forces of Evil in a world of the distant future, when mankind has returned to a simpler existence. A legend of OUR future!
Inspired by his lifelong love of the works of J.R.R.Tolkien, the idea of writing his own fantasy story had been with Mr Miles for many years before the final inspiration set him on the keyboard in 2008; the result, at first conceived only as a stand-alone story, is Thunderchild, first published by ADC Books in November 2010. This slightly revised and redesigned edition was published by ourselves in 2013.
It was as his writing proceeded that the concept of carrying his characters and background on as a trilogy grew in his mind – and the second volume, LightningMaster, is soon to be published.
Aimed at any child (from 9 to 90?) with a good reading standard, the story will not fail to enthral every reader. It has been described as ‘a superb introduction to the world of fantasy writing for its intended readership’ by a leading light of the Tolkien Society. As with all of Mr Miles’ stories, the (human) characters are just that – very real and human in their emotions and reactions, perhaps more so than in many children’s books. And the non-human ones – well, you will have to make up your own mind about them!