ReadItDaddy's Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 1st February 2019: "The Chronicles of Will Ryde and Awa Maryam Al-Jameel - A Tudor Turk" by Reham Khan (Hope Road)

While James VI sat on the English throne, half way across the world in Istanbul in 1591 Sultan Murad III, the mightiest ruler in the world, held court. 

Our story begins after the Sultan discovers he has been robbed. The Staff of Moses has been stolen from his private collection of religious artefacts in the Topkapi Palace - right from under his imperial nose! 

The wooden Staff, held by Moses as he parted the Red Sea, is a magical symbol of power worth a kings ransom - and the furious Sultan wants it back. 

A small undercover unit of hand-picked, trusted warriors is hastily assembled to track down the thieves. They are the Rüzgar the Wind and like the wind, they travel silently and unseen. Awa, the studious daughter of a noble family from the Songhai Empire in West Africa, was kidnapped and enslaved by Moroccans after the disastrous Battle of Tondibi. Awa is a whirling and deadly force when she has a scimitar in her hand. Will, who was snatched from his home in London at the age of 5, is now 16 and a galley slave on board a Moroccan warship. Joining the Rüzgar turns him into a man. He and Awa become fast friends. The other comrades are Turkish, Greek and Albanian, all led by the charismatic Bosnian Mehmed Konjic, a wise counsellor and natural hero.

This is stunning stuff, quite simply the sort of writing and scene setting that pulls you in by your belly-button and keeps you completely enchanted until you reach the end. Wowsers!

Sum this book up in a sentence: If you're looking for something totally unique and amazingly intriguing for middle grade readers who love a mystery with real-world connections, but you're fed up with the same tired old settings, this will knock your socks off. 

Book one of "The Chronicles of Will Ryde and Awa Maryam Al-Jameel - A Tudor Turk" by Reham Khan is out now, published by Hope Road.