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Summary
Summary
A boy with unprecedented power must turn to the terrifying Alien enemies of humanity to discover his true nature and bring peace to a galaxy at war.
Lucky lives a relatively normal life on a remote moon of the planet Aries One, safe from the turmoil and devastation of the interstellar war between Humans and Aliens. Lucky has seen images of the horned, cloven-hooved Aliens before, but he's never seen one up close. Then one night, he dreams that the stars are singing to him--and wakes to evidence suggesting that he is not so normal after all. When Lucky's mother sacrifices herself to help him escape an elite Human military force called the Shadow Guards, he must rely on the Alien crew of a ramshackle starship, where he finds that humanity's deadly enemies seem surprisingly Human up close. In fact, they may be more Human than Lucky himself, who has a dangerous power that could change the course of the war and the fate of the galaxy--if he can learn how to use it. Star Wars fans seeking another saga to love need look no further than this epic middle-grade adventure from SF Said, illustrated by Dave McKean with remarkable white-on-black spacescapes.
Author Notes
SF Said is the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize-winning author of Varjak Paw. He was born in Lebanon in 1967, but has lived in London since he was two years old.
Dave McKean is a world-renowned artist, designer, and film director who has illustrated several books for children, including Coraline by Neil Gaiman, The Savage by David Almond, and Varjak Paw by SF Said. Dave McKean lives in England.
Reviews (6)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-When Lucky wakes to a scorched bedsheet and the smell of smoke, his mother begins frantically packing his things. She rushes him out of their apartment and to a nearby space station, hoping to catch a flight off Phoenix, the moon they call home. Although desperately asking questions, Lucky can't get his mother to tell him what's wrong, and he is appalled when, after all flights off Phoenix are canceled, she accepts the help of a group of aliens known as Axxa, with whom humans are at war. But learning to trust the four Axxa offering him travel on their ship is only the beginning of Lucky's trek across the war-torn galaxy. He is the key to the conflict between humans and aliens; he just doesn't know it yet. Built around Axxa legends of the Twelve Astraeus, this sci-fi novel follows Lucky from one solar system to the next; Said creates not just a new religion and planet but multiple galaxies with a star at the heart of each, all connected to the Axxa pantheon. As the characters travel, revelations old and new slowly unravel and the secrets of Lucky's own past untangle. However, despite a fleshed-out narrative, captivating black-and-white illustrations, and themes of equality, connection, healing, and creation, Lucky's severe lack of self-confidence and general slow-wittedness may leave readers frustrated and make it difficult to form a bond with him. VERDICT For patient sci-fi fans searching for new characters in a unique world.-Maggie Mason Smith, Clemson University, SC © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Said reunites with his Varjak Paw collaborator, McKean, for an SF adventure that favors an elaborate cosmology over science, as Lucky, a boy of mysterious parentage, discovers that it's up to him to save the galaxy from destruction. There is no shortage of enmity between humans and the extraterrestrial creatures they dismiss simply as "Aliens," and the two sides are engaged in a devastating war in which entire suns are going supernova and collapsing into black holes. Lucky barely escapes from his home moon on an alien starship, losing his single mother in the process, and he soon learns that the aliens are far less different from humans than he had been taught, and that neither side of the conflict is in the right. Powerful and ancient beings known as the Astraeus are helpless against a growing evil force, and Lucky must use his own unexplained, newly awakening superpowers to end the war. Coincidences abound in Said's story, but the plentiful intergalactic action should easily hold readers' attention, and McKean's haunting illustrations strongly support the mystical nature of the adventure. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When a "crack in the sky, shaped like a V" appears above human boy Lucky's home on remote moon Phoenix, his terrified mother bundles him away on a ship with alien Axxa for a clandestine journey through the universe--and into the human-vs.-Axxa war. McKean's trippy black-and-white illustrations evoke reverence for the expansive universe and play with Said's unique, staccato text. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Guardian Review
SF Said's third novel for children takes its inspiration from the stars. Dazzlingly illustrated by Dave McKean, Phoenix is neither dystopian nor speculative science fiction; it is, rather, an epic space quest. It's a fat volume, but don't be tempted to buy the Kindle version as children will want to pore over the pages of this beautifully produced book. The narrative is ambitious and multi-layered, and Said strives to combine myth with space travel in an action-packed adventure that will appeal to both boys and girls. Against a background of interplanetary war, Lucky (a doubly significant name) is forced to leave his home planet of Phoenix to find his father, who will hopefully be able to explain why he dreams that the stars are singing to him, and why a luminous, burning power sometimes surges through him as he sleeps so that even his sheets are incinerated. He takes with him his father's astrolabe - "a thick black disc, blacker than black, like a chunk of outer space". Around its circumference are carved intricate patterns and 12 symbols, "like a long-forgotten alphabet". Lucky hitches a lift with a family of Axxa: despised aliens who worship the stars. Befriended by them, instructed in their ways, and ultimately disguised as an Axxa, he experiences for himself the treatment meted out to aliens by his fellow humans: border controls, strip searches and indefinite detention at a refugee camp. As they speed across the galaxies, his personal goal is conflated with a greater quest, one that has its roots in the legends told to him by an elderly female Axxa called Mystica Grandax, a "startalker". The universe, he discovers, is in peril. While humans and aliens wage war on each other, a far deadlier menace is gaining in strength. Even the 12 Astraeus (ancient, immortal figures who appear in times of great need) seem powerless in the face of the Wolf That Eats the Stars. As Lucky learns to master his disturbing powers and to navigate through space with the astrolabe, it appears that he is somehow linked to the Astraeus, and that fate is drawing him towards a looming apocalyptic event that threatens to consume everything. Said's delight in storytelling is evident: it is a big (and big-hearted) story - stakes don't come higher than saving the universe. He breathes life into an alien culture and its mythology, and gradually discloses Lucky's secret in a deftly plotted series of reveals. It is a rich narrative weave, seeded with mythic archetypes and resonant with echoes of 20th-century fantasy classics (Pullman, Tolkien, Star Wars). The theme of identity - who/what am I? who are my parents? - has perennial appeal for younger readers who will love reading about a boy who turns out to be so much less ordinary than he had thought. Dave McKean's powerful and poetic images are a joy in themselves. Portaits of the Astraeus lend gravitas and rhythm to the novel, and images focusing on Lucky's mastery of the astrolabe and are strikingly beautiful. Often white on black, they portray clouds of stars, or finely drawn lines of connection across the universe that resemble isobars or the rings of tree trunks. Lucky, a fluid astral body, swims through the darkness bringing light. Said's child-centred, inclusive text and McKean's gorgeous images combine to produce a story that will encourage young imaginations to take flight. The final sequence, in particular, is both stunning and uplifting. It's clear how much care went into creating Phoenix - look at the font chosen for the illustrations and you'll notice that even the dots are made from stars. Linda Buckley-Archer's Time Quake Trilogy is published by Simon & Schuster. To order Phoenix for pounds 10.39 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846 or go to guardianbookshop.co.uk. - Linda Buckley-Archer [Dave McKean]'s powerful and poetic images are a joy in themselves. Portaits of the Astraeus lend gravitas and rhythm to the novel, and images focusing on Lucky's mastery of the astrolabe and are strikingly beautiful. Often white on black, they portray clouds of stars, or finely drawn lines of connection across the universe that resemble isobars or the rings of tree trunks. Lucky, a fluid astral body, swims through the darkness bringing light. Said's child-centred, inclusive text and McKean's gorgeous images combine to produce a story that will encourage young imaginations to take flight. The final sequence, in particular, is both stunning and uplifting. It's clear how much care went into creating Phoenix - look at the font chosen for the illustrations and you'll notice that even the dots are made from stars. - Linda Buckley-Archer.
Kirkus Review
Young Lucky is awakened one night to discover his linens seared by fire after having a dream of flying among the starsbut it was no dream. Immediately after discovering that he has had a true out-of-body galactic experience, Luckys mother packs their belongings to flee their home planet, Aries One. Her plan is violently thwarted by the nefarious Shadow Guards, and Lucky is separated from his mother. He is forced to escape the planet on a spaceship occupied by a family of horned Aliens, a species that co-exists with Humans throughout the galaxy (not always peacefully). What starts as a suspenseful tale quickly turns sideways as Lucky discovers that the frightening, demonic Aliens hes always feared dont carry many traits different from Humans other than horns and hooves. Aside from the irritating notion that every species in the galaxy speaks English, the no-nonsense plot, in which Lucky discovers the origin of his ever surfacing power while on his first journey through the galaxy, unfolds smoothly. His innocence never turns into the annoying superpower bravado that often accompanies young apprentices, and it is underscored by Saids straightforward, even nave narrative style. McKeans illustrations of Luckys communions with the godlike Twelve Astraeus add haunting visuals. Luckys race is not indicated. An astrological twist on an age-old story; the echoes of Star Wars, The Golden Compass, and A Wrinkle in Time should win it fans. (Science fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The author-illustrator team behind Varjak Paw (2003) reunites for this mystical sf adventure about a boy with the power to save his galaxy from the Wolf That Eats the Stars, an encroaching void caused by the war between humans and alien Axxa. In his dreams, Lucky travels among the stars and listens to their songs, but when he wakes, everything around him is covered in ashes. Before his mother is able to explain what's happening, she is killed, and Lucky winds up fleeing the planet on an alien starship. Lucky and the Axxa crew are reluctant to travel together, but as they search for Lucky's lost father, who may hold the key to his powers, they learn their differences are less striking than their similarities. The narrative and evocative artwork come together to form an inspirational tale of embracing empathy and fighting despair, couched in a familiar chosen-one arc, that works both as an allegory and a straightforward adventure. McKean's stylized illustrations add to the mythic tone of Lucky's transformative experience.--Hutley, Krista Copyright 2016 Booklist
