Warren the Xiiith (Warren the 13th): The All Seeing Eye – Tania Del Rio
Meet Warren the 13th, a cursed twelve-year-old Victorian bellhop who’s terribly unlucky, yet perpetually optimistic, hard-working, and curious. Warren’s pride and joy is his family’s Warren Hotel, but he’s been miserable ever since his evil Aunt Anaconda took over the management. Anaconda believes a mysterious treasure known as The All-Seeing Eye is hidden somewhere in the walls of the hotel, and she’ll do anything to find it. If Warren wants to preserve his family’s legacy, he’ll need to find the treasure first – if the hotel’s many strange and wacky guests don’t beat him to it!
Our review copy came from Publishers Group UK (PGUK).
We are a very book oriented family, my boys were read to from a very young age and their love of books has grown as they get older. My eldest son is now 9 and is glued to his books and comics at every opportunity he gets. Recently he had the opportunity to read Tania Del Rio’s forthcoming book Warren the 13th – he devoured it over the course of a couple of nights and has been picking it up on a regular basis to revisit the story.
I have had a look through the book too and it is gorgeous to look at – filled with beautiful artwork which compliments the story and there is a hidden message to find too (a challenge my son is not prepared to give up on).
I asked my son to tell me a little about the story…
“Warren 13th is about a boy who runs and lives in a hotel. His mean uncle recently married a witch (Aunt Anaconda) who has two sisters – they are all members of the Triangle Coven…they are the nasty baddies“.
While Warren is in the garden he stumbles upon a journal which belonged to one of his ancestors (Warren 2nd). “A peculiar page explains about a mysterious object called the All Seeing Eye – a cryptic poem tells how the All Seeing Eye can grant power across the land but could also be used to destroy the hotel“. I clarified that the hotel is Warren’s home, and his legacy, so he cannot allow the All Seeing Eye to fall into someone else’s hands. Unfortunately the Triangle Coven also want the All Seeing Eye so Warren will have a fight on his hands.
I asked him to tell me what kind of story it was…”funny, adventurous, surprising and action packed“. He has taken the book into school to show his friends and the other bookworms in his class are asking how they can get a copy too. Although we get through a fair number of books in our house it is not often that a story catches his imagination quite in the way that Warren 13th has done. As a parent I would highly recommend this book, I measure the reading enjoyment by how much my kids talk about a book, how often they ask to read it and whether they bring me the book to share their favourite bits. Warren 13th ticked all the boxes and he was genuinely disappointed when he finished it – a second read through is looking likely.
Warren 13th will be published on 24th November by Quirk Books.
Copies can be pre-ordered here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1594748039?keywords=warren%2013th&qid=1447592968&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1