Maggie and the Mountain of Light

A great book by Mark Snoad. Mark is an awesome fantasy spinner from New Zealand! I think he is having a great time writing this as we have a second book on its way already. Snoad has a special invitation to all those children with allergies.

Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023

This Mid-school Fantasy is so much fun! It’s set in what he calls “Another World”.

So…. I stepped into the apocalypse training camp of Dux Manor, pleading along with Maggie , “Please don’t let the rooms be haunted!!”. The opening lines tell us that “Dux Manor seemed more like a place for a royal visit rather than a camp, with the red-brick exterior speaking of age and wealth. The large building, with matching wings on either side of a central entrance, reminded me of the Lego castles I’d built with my younger twin brothers”.

Maggie and the Mountain of Light is a joyous read. It captures you from page 1. The main characters are Margaret Elizabeth Thatcher and Anahira Waititi . Two girls with awesome shoes to fill, if you take their names into consideration. They plot side by side with one green-skinned person whose name we will soon find out.

Mark Snoad weaves critical issues into the text without you realizing it. A quick lesson in geography, manners, etiquette and cultures from different cultures, health, physical and special needs are all nicely covered by page 8. We live through a series of escapades, some more frightening than others. The inclusion of characters from “Another world”, makes the challenges real and unanticipated.

It’s all good though as we wonder what next going from crowns, to jewels to ice cream. They certainly didn’t make asthma, food allergies and anxiety deter them; not for a minute. We get great advice on how to cope with these. And the special badges were well earned.
Keep a look out for Book Two and the response of the humans!!