Blog Tour / Book Review

The Other Side of the Whale Road by K.A. Hayton | Blog Tour

The Other Side of the Whale Road
Author: K.A. Hayton
Pages: 240
Ages: 12-15
Publication Date: 2nd September 2021

Buy the Book (affiliate link): Amazon UK

This is already one of those weeks where I’m already so behind even though it’s only Tuesday! The only thing getting me through the week is knowing I have some great books to start and I can have a nice relaxing weekend, hopefully! Well, here’s my review for The Other Side of the Whale Road which was absolutely amazing and nothing like I’ve read before.

Thank you The Write Reads, the author and the publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review and a stop on the blog tour!

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Synopsis

How dark were the Dark Ages? Joss is about to find out…

‘The Vikings are better armed than we are. They have long, heavy axes that can take a man’s head from his shoulder. I know this because I see it happen.’‍

When his mum burns down their house on the Whitehorse estate, sixteen-year-old Joss is sent to live in a sleepy Suffolk village.

The place is steeped in history, as Joss learns when a bike accident pitches him back more than 1,000 years to an Anglo-Saxon village. That history also tells him his new friends are in mortal peril from bloodthirsty invaders. Can he warn their ruler, King Edmund, in time?

And will he ever get home?

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The Other Side of the Whale Road is such a remarkable and powerful book that I couldn’t help but love. The characters are so incredibly interesting and likeable, especially our main character, sixteen-year-old Joss. The whole aspect of time travelling back to the Anglo-Saxon era was so fascinating to read about, gripping me until the very last page.

Joss has had a very difficult childhood, which doesn’t get much easier when he ends up in foster care after his mum burned down the house with a cigarette. He’s now been separated from his twin sisters and begins to live with Tim and Cressida, his new foster parents. Things aren’t off to a good start at his new school after getting into a fight in the bathroom. Being suspended is the last thing you would expect to happen when you are helping someone stand up to the school bully.

Being cooped up in the house isn’t at the top of his list during this suspension, so he opts to borrows Tim’s bike and gets out of the house. One thing leads to another and he’s head first over the handlebars barreling towards the bottom of the Quarry. The next thing he knows he’s waking up in a completely different place but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I loved Joss’ whole attitude to his time travelling back thousands of years. I would be pretty freaked out if it happened to me but he definitely took it on the chin. This is one reason why his character stood out to me so much, he was so certain this is where he was meant to be to escape reality back home. It was great to see so many characters support him and see he wasn’t as alone as he thought, it made the story even more enjoyable.

I couldn’t get enough of the village, Haegelisdun. The author has pained it in such a way that you definitely feel like you’ve been transported back in time with Joss. I found it really easy to imagine the Anglo-Saxon era as there was plenty of detail about the houses, clothes, weapons and many other things they had.

Overall, The Other side of the Whale Road is an incredibly unique story about time travel and fascinating Anglo-Saxons. Joss’ journey is so much fun to follow and extremely hard to stop reading once you get going! If you are looking for something quick and fun with aan amazing adventure, I can’t recommend this enough.

Rating: 4.5/5

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