The Boundless
Author:
Kenneth Oppel
Illustrator:
Published by:
David Fickling Books
First Published:
7 May 2015
Ideal for readers aged
13+y
My Review
Kenneth Oppel specialises in zany steampunk style adventure stories - his 'Airborn' series has been compared to works by Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, so that gives you a sense of the calibre of rip-roaring adventure that he writes! The Boundless is a huge steam train on its maiden voyage, and Will is accompanying his father (the boss of the train company) on the journey. Desperate to have a story of his own to tell, Will stumbles into one faster than he could have imagined and ends up on a race for his life on a train which is itself racing across Canada at the time of the pioneer era's great westward railway expansion. The adrenaline is palpable in the superbly gripping, pacy and intense story - but also threaded through it is the longing for acceptance and identity that Will feels as he lives in the shadow of a father who feels distant. For young teens who like a bit of a thrill in their reads, this is a surefire hit!
Heads Up!
There are a couple of strange supernatural occurrences during the book you might want to know about if you are giving it to children who might get spooked, or if you prefer to avoid that kind of thing; rumours of a mythical hag who lures passengers from the train to their doom as it crosses a boggy wilderness turn out to be well founded at one point during the story. The circus ringmaster believes in the power of a magical canvas which, if his portrait is painted on it, will give him immortality. At another point, the reader thinks for a moment that a corpse has come to life, until it become clear that it's a mechanical trick engineered by a circus magician. These quirks all add to the zaniness of the story, and aren't the main focus of what is otherwise a classic train adventure, they're just worth flagging up I think.