ABOUT
JOSHUA AND THE LIGHTNING ROAD:
Title:
Joshua and the Lightning Road
Publication
date: May 19, 2015
Publisher:
Month9Books, LLC.
Author:
Donna Galanti
Stay
away from the window, don’t go outside when it’s storming and whatever you do,
do not touch the orb.
Twelve-year-old
Joshua Cooper’s grandpa has always warned him about the dangers of lightning.
But Joshua never put much stock in his grandpa’s rumblings as anything more
than the ravings of an old man with a vast imagination. Then one night, when
Joshua and his best friend are home alone during a frightful storm, Joshua
learns his grandpa was right. A bolt of lightning strikes his house and whisks
away his best friend—possibly forever.
To
get him back, Joshua must travel the Lightning Road to a dark place that steals
children for energy. But getting back home and saving his friend won’t be easy,
as Joshua must face the terrifying Child Collector and fend off ferocious and
unnatural beasts intent on destroying him.
In
this world, Joshua possesses powers he never knew he had, and soon, Joshua’s
mission becomes more than a search for his friend. He means to send all the
stolen children home—and doing so becomes the battle of his life.
Joshua and the Lightning Road is a wonderfully imaginative
adventure filled with family love, best friends, a new world, and frightening
beasts. And, of course, horrible bad guys! Everything a middle grade reader
will love.
MY REVIEW:
Joshua is a bit of a misfit as he and his grandfather move
often, but now he’s got a best friend. Until lightning strikes and his buddy
Finn disappears! The only way to save Finn seems to be to beg the lightning to
strike again and take Joshua. He arrives in a horrible world, the Lost Realm of
Nostos, where the ancient Greek gods have withered and become powerless, but
magic still exists. Those who wield it kidnap children from Earth to be their
slaves and all the new arrivals are auctioned off to work in the realms of the
now-uncaring old gods.
Joshua can’t find Finn, but he quickly befriends another boy
and makes some gut-felt choices in whom to trust. This sets him onto a
life-threatening adventure where he learns of his family’s connection to
Nostos.
The story is well-told, sure to be a favorite of Percy
Jackson fans, with a bit of Harry Potter thrown in. The monsters are well written and truly scary - on land, in
water, and flying through the air. The connections to Greek myth are cool and
interesting.
From a writing perspective, the book could have used another
round of editing focusing on showing versus telling, adding more description,
and watching for a few punctuation, pronoun, and head-hopping issues. The
beginning is a little confusing – we don’t know the mc’s name for several
pages. And it’s not necessary to use “then” quite so often, the reader knows it
happens next.
But then we get bacon beer and all is forgiven! I enjoyed
meeting the characters and expect them to be back in another book. I’m sure
kids who enjoy adventures, especially in magical worlds, will read quickly and
want more.
Link to Goodreads:
Purchase Links:
ABOUT DONNA GALANTI:
Donna
is the author of the Joshua and The Lightning Road series and the Element
Trilogy. She is a contributing editor to International Thriller Writers the Big
Thrill magazine and blogs at www.project-middle-grade-mayhem.blogs...,
a cooperative of published middle grade authors. Visit her at www.donnagalanti.com and www.ElementTrilogy.com. Donna wanted
to be a writer ever since she wrote a murder mystery screenplay at seven and
acted it out with the neighborhood kids. She attended an English school housed
in a magical castle, where her wild imagination was held back only by her itchy
uniform (bowler hat and tie included!). There she fell in love with the worlds
of C.S. Lewis and Roald Dahl, and wrote her first fantasy about Dodo birds,
wizards, and a flying ship (and has been writing fantasy ever since). She’s
lived in other exotic locations, including her family-owned campground in New
Hampshire and in Hawaii where she served as a U.S. Navy photographer. She now
lives with her family and two crazy cats in an old farmhouse and dreams of
returning one day to a castle.
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Thanks so much for reading and reviewing Joshua and the Lightning Road and hosting the blog tour today!
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