This book will blow your mind, stretch your imagination to its very limits, and haunt your dreams. I don't usually read science fiction but Phoenix has such a tempting cover and, from the first page, I was sucked into the story by the wonderful language and images that the author has created so I could hardly put it down. It took S. F. Said eight years to write and it really is a lifetime's achievement.
When Lucky's mother sees his terrifying power, as he holds his father's astrolabe, she knows that they must leave their planet, Phoenix. This is the beginning of an amazing journey to unknown worlds. The universe is heading towards nothingness because of the battle raging between humans and the Axxa people. Lucky's mother manages to put him on a ship that hurtles through space giving him into the care of an Axxa family. He catapults along, facing petrifying challenges; meeting shadow guards, startalkers, the human president Thorntree and lastly the Axxa king, Theobroma. On the ship he gets to know the Axxa family who are looking after him, Bixa Quicksilver, her brother Felix and their grandparents. These alien people show great kindness and compassion to the human who is travelling with them. Lucky eventually understands his life-shattering destiny but he must face so many dangerous challenges. Can he outwit the wolf that eats the stars?
Phoenix shot to the top of my favourite book list and may stay there for ever! I was travelling with Lucky, facing his dangers and thinking his thoughts. I loved his Axxa friend Bixa Quicksilver, feeling a real connection to her. Although she's aggressive she's bold, brave, loyal and loving. I have also thought a lot about the book's important messages; not judging people because they are different, and how we endanger our world by the way we treat it, and each other. A huge bonus is the unbelievably beautiful drawings by Dave McKean enabling you to be part of the story and soar through space to the very edge of a black hole. Since I read this book I have gone to sleep each night listening for the music of the stars.
From the stars we all came. To the stars we return…
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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