René O'Deay gBlog

Return to Zandria -YA Fantasy Adventure novel by Christine Norris
More-Than-Ordinary 14-year-old Ivy gets an urgent message, a desperate plea for her help, delivered by an old friend, the beautiful tiny fairy, Kaia, from the Wizard of the magical land of Zandria after an exasperating last week of school and a fight with her Mom.

Eager to escape the frustrations of school and the unhappy relations with her Mom and her baby brother, Ivy leads her best friend, Lori, through a magical gate on a non-stop adventure in a land of fantasy.

Lori, whose main interest is mall-shopping, at first finds this magical land of Zandria unreal and even begins to think she must be dreaming. What finally convinces Lori is not their encounters with Zandria's magical beings, but the drastic change from summer in their world to the deep cold chivering winter that holds Zandria hostage.

The two girls encounter another one of Ivy's old friends, the young apprentice wizard, Connor, who leads them through a land devastated by the ever-lasting winter and entirely covered with snow to the castle of Empress Lionors whose baby had been abducted by her cousin, Duke Drake of Faeolin.

Rescue of the abducted Princess has become a matter of life and death with winter prolonged for over a year and starvation threatening the people of Zandria.

The quest to rescue the princess involves winged horses, elves and fairies, dragons and unicorns, the Queen of the mermaids, and Ivy and Lori as guides to their world, the "Otherworld", where the Empress's daughter had been hidden. Both Ivy and Lori play important roles in the rescue of the Princess, then Ivy discovers that the abduction is only part of a larger plot to seize power in Zandria with the threatened return of the exiled evil sister of the Empress.

This intriguing fantasy for young adults can catch the interest of a more mature reader and keep the reader glued to the book. There’s none of the more commercial type padding seen in recent adult novels to distract from the story.

Christine expertly ties all the traditional elements of myths and fairy tales together in a most enchanting way with all the magical characters from Dragon King and Mermaid Queen to a tiny gnome skillfully portrayed.

Return to Zandria is the stand-alone sequel to Talisman of Zandria, Christine's popular debut novel inspired by the Harry Potter series.

Author Christine Norris is an avid Renaissance afficianado and an elementary and middle-school teacher. Christine has been involved with the Wizard Academies Publications, a collaborative effort involving a number of authors from around the world with stories inspired by the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. Wizard Academies Publications include anthologies of short stories and full-length books of young adult fantasies about magickally-gifted youngsters training to be the "Wizards of Tomorrow."

Find out more about Zandria and the author on the Christine Norris website.
( http://www.christine-norris.com/ )

Return to Zandria is available as an eBook at LBF Books: http://www.lbfbooks.com/

Publication is scheduled for July 28, and can be ordered at the LBF Books site.
Or ordered on Amazon at:


Book Review by René O'Deay

Time Magazine ranks my community news website among the 50 best of 2007.
- 50 Best Websites 2007 - TIME Magazine: "NowPublic now counts nearly 97,000 contributing reporters in more than 140 countries around the world. During Hurricane Katrina, NowPublic was there; eight contributors filed on-the-scene reports from London's Heathrow Airport during the August 2006 terrorism lockdown—while the regular press was forced to wait outside. On June 6 NowPublic's coverage of a storm in Oman made it to the top of the AOL and Yahoo news sites. As part of its partnership with the Associated Press, NowPublic reporters now help the wire service gather footage on the ground. 'We wanted to build a next-generation wire service that counted for the accidental bystanders, the storm chasers,' co-founder Leonard Brody says. 'And with digital capturing devices now in the average person's hand, they can be first when there's breaking news.'"
NowPublic.com - 50 Best Websites 2007 - TIME