{Review} Ordinary Joe and the Mark of Four by Tony Pritchard

ASIN #: B00CELBFUM

File Size: 194 KB

Page Count: 78

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

Joe just wants to be left alone. He is happy with his ordinary life in the small village of Cardenfield, having his dinner with his Aunt and Uncle in front of the X Factor, and playing on his X-Box.

But Joe doesn't know the truth about his life.

He doesn't know that his father is a King in the magical world of Antigol.

He doesn't know that a war rages there, and the dark Prince Avarat has sworn to find the boy who robbed him of his destiny.

As Christmas approaches, the snow blanketed streets of Cardenfield shake with the arrival of towering, monstrous bone wytches, striding over houses and peeling back roofs.

The skies split as fire belching emerald dragons soar from the clouds, searching ... for Joe.

With his best friend, and serial-suspendee from the local school, Reece, and the sour-faced Polish girl, Kinga, Joe escapes into Antigol, where he realizes things will never be the same again.

Mandy's Review:

Joe's believed all his life that his parents are dead. His aunt and uncle are quiet people who do what they can to make life comfortable, yet interesting, for Joe. Joe also works part time delivering newspapers for Mr. Zhang. It's leaving his job during Christmas break that Joe comes close to getting beat up by some school bullies. The only thing that saves him is a local homeless guy named Sam. On the way home, Sam and Joe witness the roof of Joe's aunt and uncle's house being ripped back by a wytch. What really blows Joe's mind is when his aunt and uncle come out of the house with, what he thought were decorative, weapons fighting the wytches. Weirder still was Flake, his dog, talking to him telling him to get to the school and to find his protector.

At the school, Joe finds who he thinks is his protector, his best friend Reece. During the fighting at the school, a portal opens up and Joe falls through into Antigol. Once there, Joe's on a mission to find his parents and to fulfill the prophecy (which he's unaware of ).

The beginning of this series is full of beautiful imagery, imagination, and action. It has all of the required elements to be a fantasy novel, but is geared more for the younger audience. I think young boys would be more drawn to this story than the girls, since there's a lot of fighting and dragons. Overall, this is a pretty good start to this series.


*An ecopy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.