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This evening I finished reading 'A Buffalope's Tale' by Philip Caveney. It's a very well-written prequel to the Sebastian Darke series which I have not read, but I expect I will seek them out later.

It is the autobiography of a character from the series, Max, a buffalope. He begins life as part of a herd but that changes, and his life steadily gets worse until he meets Alexander Darke, though that does not entirely end his struggles. The story is well set up and flows well. It's one of the best children's fantasy books I've read in some time, it neither drags nor tries to disguise the unpleasant things that take place, instead using humour to make them less traumatic.

If I had to pick fault, I'd have to say I'm never a fan of renaming something for the sake of it appearing different to make the fantasy world sound more different - horses are called equines, apples are called pommers. It does not take much to see straight through that so I do not understand why so many authors do things like this.

Squareley aimed at those aged 9-12, but I appreciate a well-written book for any age bracket.

http://www.thebookbag.co.uk/reviews/index.php?title=Sebastian_Darke:_A_Buffalope%27s_Tale_by_Philip_Caveney This is a good review of the book, somewhat beyond my current reviewing skills...