When Sunni Forrest’s stepbrother accidentally transports himself into a Renaissance painting, she and her friend Blaise set out to bring him back. They find themselves in a strange world of labyrinths, monsters and pirates. Can they evade their greedy pursuers? And will they ever find their way home?
– Publisher’s Blurb
As promised in my review with author Teresa Flavin, yesterday, here is my review of her young adult novel, The Blackhope Enigma.
The novel starts out following Sunni, as she visits The Blackhope Tower, where she expects to start work on an art project, studying: The Mariner’s Return to Arcadia, 1582, by Fausto Corvo, already there, is the popular and talented Blaise Doran, a fellow student.
While Sunni and Blaise are working on their projects, Sunni’s younger brother, Dean is bored and starts to wander.
When suddenly, he disappears before their eyes!
Panicking, they begin to search, when the seeming impossible happens, there in the painting they spot a figure wearing the same clothes as… The only problem is, how do they get in there themselves, and even if they can, will they be able to get back out again?
They are also not the only ones, trying to unravel the Blackhope Enigma…
What follows is a rip-roaring adventure as Blaise and Sunni race to find Dean, whilst trying to evade those who don’t have their best interests at heart, and along the way discover the answers to centuries old mysteries.
The Blackhope Enigma, whilst it takes place in a different and unusual location, is at heart, still a pretty traditional adventure story, with a budding friendship/relationship between the 2 main characters, secrets, bad guys, plot twists aplenty. The concept of the story taking place within a painting, is nicely done throughout, with light nudges and reminders of just where we were.
It didn’t quite blow me away, but The Blackhope Enigma was a really enjoyable and engaging read, and I’d love to meet up with Sunni and Blaise again sometime!
![Supermarket by Brian Wood and Kristian Donaldson [Review]](/bookshelf/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Supermarket-by-Brian-Wood-and-Kristian-Donaldson-271x146.jpg)
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Sounds like a fun book. I love the cover!
I have a definite fondness for that cover. Thanks for the suggestion.
This sounds like a wonderful read! I think if I’d have spotted the cover in a bookshop it would definitely be one I’d pick up to look at. I quite fancy reading it now, but as I’ve only just ordered a few books to add to my ever increasing TBR pile, this will have to sit in my Amazon basket for a while. Thanks
[...] by Teresa Flavin. I’d ordered it from The Book Depository after reading a review about it on Bart’s Bookshelf and it arrived while I was away in York last week. The Blackhope Enigma is a children’s book, [...]
[...] ordered The Blackhope Enigma having read a review by Bart’s Bookshelf and so I knew I was in for a [...]