Reading books with great stories can take the reader off into other worlds, worlds where anything can happen, where adventure runs riot, and you lose yourself in the pages. Now it is time to be taken out of this world with Andrew Ashwin and his debut children’s novel – Drumendus: Mission to the Drum Planet, a magical musical space adventure.
In case you haven’t heard of the mysterious planet Drumendus before (maybe you know it by its original name Purple-1812?), it is a purple planet that sits between Earth and Mars, in fact it is a sibling planet to Earth. Very similar to our own planet (except everything having a purple tinge of course) it has an atmosphere that you can breathe in without the need for a spacesuit and you can walk around as you would on Earth. And there is music … everywhere!
In Drumendus: Mission to the Drum Planet we blast off to the exciting world of Drumendus in a homemade spaceship, and not any ordinary spaceship but one that looks like a grand piano. Onboard is 12 year old Ella Crinkle and her best friend Freddie, along with Ella’s eccentric Aunt Belinda, the most famous astronaut in history.
Ella is a Drumgazer (she loves to look at Drumendus and wonder about its mysteries), she dreams of visiting the mysterious purple planet just like the Aunt Belinda did 25 years ago. During the school holidays, Ella always goes to visit her Aunt Belinda and her weird and wacky inventions, but this time is going to very different. Aunt Belinda has spent the past 20 years building her own homemade spaceship for a secret mission to Drumendus – a mission that is to right a family secret that has been kept hidden for 25 years! Ella and Freddie go along for the ride, uncovering the unbelievable secret along the way.
But that’s just the start of an awesome adventure. Drumendus is a planet that is home to more than a family secret. It has undiscovered purple people, musical instruments and music everywhere. And if that isn’t enough adventure, it is also home to the Crinkle family secret that is totally unbelievable. A secret that Ella has to come to terms with as well as finding out more the mysterious musical planet and helping to overthrow a tyrannical leader. But will she, Freddie and Aunt Belinda be able to accomplish their mission and return safely home?
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Whilst the basic story of a space adventure to other planet isn’t anything new, the story is unique as it is built around music and musical instruments and that gives it that extra something that makes it exciting, captivating and extremely enjoyable. A story that young readers will be fascinated by and want to keep reading.
The story is written very well, in a way that children will relate to and enjoy. The characters of Ella, Freddie, Aunt Belinda are fascinating, brilliant and very likable. Whilst the support cast of Uncle Otto and the purple people of Drumendus are equally as good.
Music and musical instruments feature heavily throughout the book, supplying the magic that powers the story. They really do make the story much more interesting – I don’t want to say too much to ruin the story for anyone that wants to read it.
This is an exciting book packed with adventure, fantasy and magic with excellent characters. It is fun to read and will definitely capture readers imagination with the musical planet of Drumendus, purple people, the Plectrumm Palace, power and corruption.
If you are looking for a fun and engaging story for your children to lose themselves in, then this out of this world crazy adventure is definitely whole-heartedly recommended.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £7.99 (Paperback)
For more information, visit drumendus.com. Available to buy from Amazon here.
