An utter delight! I was so excited to see Jaclyn Moriarty had written, not only one new book, but a new series (new to me, anyway)! Funnily, I heard about it from two friends who both had accidentally read the third book first. I received the audiobook of book 1 (this one) for my birthday, and the reader, Charlie Sanderson, was fantastic! I will look for more of her recordings for sure. She was perfect as Bronte. I loved her declarative style and deliberate enunciation. Sometimes that enunciation was all it took to make me giggle. She did a ton of accents and voices, and they were just great.
I’ve loved Moriarty ever since I read the third book in her Ashbury High series first (hmm, I just made the connection—what is it with that?). One of the things I liked the most about that series is the adults were present in the teens’ lives and also very funny. This series is for middle grades, but that same element is there. Bronte’s young cousins are lots of fun, from Aunt Sue’s lively sons to Aunt Nancy’s affectionate daughters (I loved all the “Darling” this and “Darling” that).
There are so many moving parts in this—so many chapters too—109! There’s really just a lot of everything: lots of aunts, lots of wild adventures, lots of surprises, and lots of silliness. It’s a wacky, imaginative fantasy, and I loved every minute of it. ( )

I don't know why I picked this up and started reading it, but I will admit that it was a fun read for a while - pretty humorous overall. But unfortunately, it was too simple for me after a short time, and I decided not to waste time reading it, as I had many other books I wanted to read more.

{First of 3 in Kingdoms & Empires series; children’s, fantasy, adventure}(2018)

(Audiobook read by Charlie Sanderson)

Bronte, now 10 years old, was left at her aunt Isabelle's as a baby by her parents, who went off to have adventures by themselves. As the story opens, Bronte and her eleven aunts learn that her parents have been killed by pirates. Their will instructs Bronte to take a treasure chest of gifts and visit each aunt to deliver them (only some of whom she's already met) but she has to go by herself. And she has to follow the instructions exactly because the will has been faery cross-stitched and so disaster will befall Gainsleigh, her hometown, if she doesn't. As she travels, she has adventures and comes up against obstacles, such as saving a baby from a river, an absent minded aunt who lives in snowy mountains but doesn't allow fires to be lit and pirates chasing her aunts' cruise ship. Bronte has been warned about witches and sterling silver foxes but it's the Whispering King who is the real danger to the world.

Over the next three days, I did not breathe.
Well, I probably did breathe, otherwise I’d be dead.
But it really seemed as if there was no time to breathe.
We ran out of the lawyers’ office, and then we kept on running.
Planning, packing, folding, zipping, visiting the seamstress for new frocks. I read my parents’ instructions over and over, and had nightmares about losing them or spilling lemonade on them. “The ink has run!” I screamed in my sleep. “I can’t read the words!”
Of course, we had to race to the bank to collect the treasure chest from the vault.
It turned out to be very small, the size of a large shoe box. For a moment, I thought it shimmered with jewels, but those were only glued-on sequins.
Accompanying the chest was a small sack of silver coins “for expenses” on my journey. “Handy,” sniffed Aunt Isabelle, but then she pivoted and ran out of the bank.
As we raced about, Aunt Isabelle drilled me on the dangers of Dark Mages.
“How can you tell if somebody’s a witch?”
“They often look confused. They wear socks with sandals.”
“Good. What do you do if you see one?”
“Stay quiet. Try to blend in.”
“How do you know a Sterling Silver Fox?”
“Lots of jewelry. Sharp ears.”
“What do you do if you see one?”
“Laugh loudly. They can’t stand the sound of laughter.”
“How do you know a Whisperer?”
I paused. A Whisperer was the most frightening Dark Mage. The others tended to leave you alone unless you bothered them, but Whisperers kidnapped children.
“But I won’t see a Whisperer, will I? They’re all safely bound in the Whispering Kingdom?”
“True.” Aunt Isabelle nodded. “But what if a Whisperer escapes? How do you know a Whisperer?”
“They don’t escape, do they?”
“Bronte. How do you know a Whisperer?”
I sighed. “They never cut their hair. You hear a voice in your head like burning steel.”
“What do you do if you see a Whisperer?”
“Run.”
“How fast?”
“As fast as I can.”
“Faster, Bronte. Faster.”
We went through all the other Dark Mages—ghouls, radish gnomes, fire sirens, and so on—and covered other dangers too. Getting my new frocks muddy. Forgetting to say thank you. That kind of thing.

This is a light-hearted children's book by Australian author Moriarty, set in a Victorian-era (ie motor cars are a novelty) fantasy world with kingdoms and empires. At first, given that the narrator gave aunt Isabelle a posh English voice, I assumed it was set (to begin with) in a parallel London but Bronte's first stop on her tour, to which she travels overland, is in an orange-growing part of the country so it's probably more Australia-centric.

Aims at quirky and achieves it for the most part; a look at the Contents shows 109 chapters divided into sections, mainly, by aunts (there is also a map in the print version). I felt the threads weren't tied up at the end as neatly as they could have been and brought up some questions. Even though I know there is a sequel to this book, it isn't suggested by the ending.

I listened to this as an audiobook and it took me a long while to get used to the narrator's style - though I did appreciate that she did do accents for the large cast well and her job wasn't helped by having to speak dragon or read recipes which were half obliterated which would work in print but are harder to convey on audio.

Fun and quirky.

3-3.5**** ( )

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Good
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle School

I really enjoyed the story and the humor in this book. It is the story of Bronte and what happened after she learns of her parents death. She was raised by her aunt since she was an infant. She was told that her parents went off on an adventure. At 10 she learned that her parents were killed by pirates. Her parents had a will and Bronte had to follow the instructions on the will. These adventures were what helped her grow up and come to terms with her parents absent and death. She learned to be strong and take care of things.

This story shows how the issues in life is what makes you who you are and is all part of a learning process. So even though she had to go through things, these all helped her to become the person she was supposed to be, even without her parents support. ( )

When Bronte was a baby, her parents left her with her Aunt Isabelle before gallivanting off on adventures. Ten years later, Bronte receives the news that her parents have been killed by pirates, and their will insists that she set out alone on a journey to visit her all her aunts and deliver each a gift. Moreover, the will is Faery crossed-stitched, so there will be disastrous consequences if Bronte doesn’t follow it.

This is quirky and entertaining, and what begins as a episodic adventure - meeting her cousins, rescuing a baby from a river, rescuing an aunt from wrongful imprisonment, learning to talk to dragons, accidentally causing an avalanche - eventually twists together in Moriarty-fashion.

I suspect I would have stronger feelings about it were I still Bronte’s age or if it hadn’t been so light-hearted. I was not a fan of the illustrations, which are not to my tastes, but fortunately found them easy to ignore - and I can see how they might appeal to the book’s target audience. All the same, I’d happily read more set in this world.

“Oh, I love to have a child in my library! I’ve just finished redecorating the children’s section, so this is perfect, dear child! Trust me! You are going to love it!” [...]
“Well,” I said. “Thank you… But may I look something up instead?”
“Research!” the librarian shrieked, and inside the library people cleared their throats. One woman shot a crank Shhh! in our direction.
The librarian looked guilty. “I make too much noise,” she confided. “But I love it when people want to research! Do it! Dear child, you will love it! The catalogue is over there!” Her voice rose to a shout at the end. People muttered disapproval. ( )