The Slug Queen Chronicles: Season One by S.O. Thomas || Review

I received an eARC from BookSirens, that doesn’t affect my opinion of the book, all my thoughts are my own and honest.

Cricket Kane never believed in fairies, until one sets its sights on her little brother.

A tooth fairie aka ‘Gibber Snatch’ has kidnapped her brother, leaving a toxic changeling who has infected everyone she loves. Now she has to go to a faraway magical land to save her brother and her family, but at what cost?

The Slug Queen Chronicles starts out on Cricket Kane’s twelfth birthday, where she finds out she’s not crazy like she thought. She can see smoke in a different colour for each one of the senses, her Mother could see the smoke too. All her life she has wanted things from her Mother so she can feel close to her as she died when she was a baby. This year she gets her Mother’s journal, not knowing this will be the start of her magical adventure.

This was very whimsical and the pacing was just right the whole way through. This is a dark fantasy middle grade with a few turns I was not expecting. I love the world Fairyland, now known as Areyland, it was so well thought out, had so much depth to it.

I liked S.O. Thomas’s writing. it was very descriptive, easy to read and kept me captivated throughout.

Cricket as a character annoyed me at the start, as she was figuring out what was wrong and I could see the problem from the start, this could be because it is a middle grade and is intended for a younger audience. But Cricket grew on me as the book went on. The characters were fleshed out, but everyone in Areyland had their own motives so who should Cricket trust?

The start was the worst part for me, because of where the story started, there were a lot of questions that were answered as the story progressed and I was able to fall into the story.

Overall it was a great read, with a very solid plot and a very magical world. If you are looking for a dark fantasy middle grade definitely recommend picking this up. This book also got me out of a reading slump.

4 ⭐️

Thank you to BookSirens, S.O. Thomas and the publishers for approving me a copy.