By Cameron Woodhead
Escape to the Moon Islands
MARDI MCCONNOCHIE
ALLEN & UNWIN, $14.99
The first in a series aimed at pre-teen readers, Mardi McConnochie's Escape to the Moon Islands rests on a similar idea to Andrew McGahan's recently completed Ship Kings fantasy novels. The world has been irrevocably changed by a great flood, and is now controlled by the Admiralty, a sea-going force who seem to be the good guys until the surface is scratched. Siblings Will and Annalie face a perilous quest when their father Spinner abandons them one day for parts unknown. It's clear he has escaped a lethal threat, and the pair find out more as they set sail in a boat, the Sunfish, to track him down. Pirates and cannibals, storms and schemes await as the children, with friends and a talking parrot, ply the waves. It's a brisk, easy-to-read adventure, full of puzzles and peril.