The Strangeworlds Travel Agency review

This book feels like i've known it for years. I've been excited since it was announced as i've followed L.D Lapinski on twitter for what feels like a few years now. But now it's here in my grubby little hands and it is just as awesome as I thought it would be!


Anyway lets get on the review. This book really got me interested from the start. The idea of magical suitcases that can take you to incredible places is so cool and it gave me some Neil Gaiman's Fortunately the Milk vibes.

In fact the whole thing has a real hint of Gaiman |(not just because theirs a quote of his at the beginning of it!). If you love his books like Fortunately the Milk and my personal fave Odd and the Frost Giants or your kids do this is the book for them.

Our main character Flick is a delight. She's grumpy she's had to move to a new place and her parents time is filled with her baby brother. I loved how headstrong she was and how she just threw herself in headfirst to the adventures that followed.

However if I'm honest Jonathan may have stolen my heart. An 18 year old boy left to  run the travel agency after his father goes missing. Who dresses like a victorian because he was written to be my fave obviously. I've never related more to a character than when he was lamenting that he needed an "adultier adult" to help him. Like don't we all Jonathan!

Also notable is that their was a nonbinary character called Swype who had they/them pronouns. that made my heart soar. It's no nice to see characters like this. This is probably the first book by a big publisher i've read aimed at this audience that has had a nonbinary character.

Last week I  was talking about how nice it was LGBT adult books well this week it's an lgbt book for kids and I loved it too. I just like inclusive books and this book had so much inclusivity. Lapinski has talked about how Jonathan trans and you can see that throughout the book. There's no worries about lgbt characters being Rowling'd here.


via GIPHY

Anyway this book is a delight and you should read it. Preferably bought from an indie bookshop!