When it comes to world building, Dan Walker feels like he's tapped directly into my brain.
Creating the sort of bookworld that instantly draws me in, I devoured the original "Sky Thieves" in one go and couldn't wait to find out what happened next in that amazing clanky huff-puff world.
So here we are, with "Desert Thieves" - Dan Walker's brilliantly action-packed followup to Sky Thieves, and once again we're riding the airwaves in fabulous flying galleons alongside Zoya DeLarose
Or at least we would be - but the book opens as Zoya wakes up amongst the smoldering wreckage of the Dragonfly
The Dragonfly's crew are nowhere to be found but with the Aviation Army fast approaching, the only option she has as a fugitive is to run.
Zoya must put everything she's learnt as a sky thief to the test as she travels across the vast desert plains, evading capture, to find the Dragonfly's crew and defeat her enemies once and for all.
You barely have time to draw breath as you're once again hurled into this brilliant adventure series with one of the most enigmatic and fascinating lead characters we've seen in a Steampunk novel in a long long time (it's not difficult to see why the genre continues to be one of the most engaging and imaginative out there in the YA spectrum).
Utterly mesmerising, couldn't get enough and of course now I'm slavering at the chops for book 3. Wonderful stuff Dan, truly brilliant.
"Desert Thieves" (Sky Thieves Book 2) is out now, published by Oxford Children's Books (kindly supplied for review).