Book Review: Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope by Anne Plichota and Cendrine Wolf





















A new heroine, an old evil. An unforgettable adventure.


Oksa Pollock: The Last Hope was hailed as the French answer to Harry Potter when it was translated into English and published here in June. As a Harry Potter enthusiast I wanted to read it but also as a big fan of fantasy fiction for young adults.

The story is about a young thirteen year old girl called Oksa who discovers she has an array of different magical abilities. As she develops her ability to control these new found powers she discovers a secret that changes her whole life. Her family are originally from the magical world Edefia. They fled Edefia in fear of their lives over 50 years before. Now based in London the ‘runaways’ of Edefia gather around Oksa because she is their Queen and their last hope of returning to Edefia which the all long to do.

Initially I raced through the first chapters of this book. I really liked the character of Oksa and her friend Gus who are both well written and have wonderful engaging personalities. The story builds at a really good pace and is well written. We see Oksa learn who she is and explore her abilities exactly how you imagine a thirteen year old girl would be in learning she can shoot fire from her hands or fly. Her family are equally as well developed with a little bit of mystery surrounding key characters such as Leomido. You are intrigued enough that you want to finish the story but the plot does get a tad complicated.

I am a self-confessed fantasy fan and I love all things magical and mysterious. However, if I dare to say it this book had TOO much magic, TOO many different things introduced so fast that it was very complicated to completely grasp the storyline in certain places. I found myself getting quite bogged down in the different magical powers each character could possess especially as some were introduced so briefly. I am however hoping that this sudden deluge of different powers, creatures and what not is just because this is the first book in a series of 6. Fingers crossed that the second in the series does not introduce too much more as otherwise I think a reader will just be completely overrun with different things to keep track of. If it was not for the books website I don’t actually think I would have understood what hair the creatures look like so that was particularly helpful.


Having said this it is worth a read not just for fantasy fans but for those who like a good dose of action in their books. Although it got a bit chaotic in places the actual plot was well thought out and ended with a good cliff-hanger for the next installment.  


Worth a read.

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