Jane Yates

 AUTHOR PROFILE 

Author name: Jane Yates

Genres: Young Adult, Steampunk, Science Fiction, Time Travel

A little welcome from the author:

Jane lives in the historic city of Oxford, England and is a massive lover of the Pitt Rivers museum, she is amazed and inspired by its wondrous array of objects. Being a museum of anthropology and world archaeology, Jane often finds herself influenced by its exhibitions. And indeed it has helped Jane write a trilogy for children – the Paradox Child series.

Jane is not only a mother, artist and storyteller, but dyslexic too, which only highlights her success even more. Jane refuses to allow the disorder to halt her dreams and continues to enjoy her favourite hobbies. Jane is a lover of steampunk, adventure and children’s stories, which often play a huge role in her own books.

Books & thoughts on them: 

• Garden: 4.5 stars out of 5

This book is a re-imagination of the children's classic 'The Secret Garden' and sees a modern, steampunk style adaptation of the story which sees a young girl named Aberdeen who has been living on a futuristic spaceship and loving her life but that is suddenly thrown into disarray when her parents are murdered and she if forced to return to an Earth that is very different from our current day Earth.  This book is beautifully written and has a great flow to the story and an excellent character development throughout as we see Aberdeen need to grow and adapt to her new situation she finds herself in.  This is a really well thought out and delivered story that I found really worked and I recommend to those looking to dip their toe into steampunk.

• Octopus Pirate: 4.5 stars out of 5

The author, Jane, delivers another steampunk novel but something completely different than what has gone before.  This book sees pirates, time travel, UK Victorian era adventures which take the reader through a journey that you will love.  Jane Yates is an amazing author who, despite her dyslexia, is able to deliver a great story with ease and I really did enjoy this book other than a few editing issues and the very long chapters (a personal bugbear of mine) but I would always recommend this to anyone who is not scared of losing themselves to a completely unique and wild world.

• Paradox Child (book one of the Paradox Child trilogy): 4.5 stars out of 5

Young Lilly comes from a family where magic is kept secret but is practiced by mother, daughter and grandmother but when her mother doesn't return from a journey she has to take, it is time for Lilly to discover a lot more than she could ever imagine.  This book has a lot centred around the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford and it is obvious to the reader that the author has a great deal of love for this place herself as she delivers a narrative full of details and descriptions that make the reader feel like they are being transported to the museum and are part of the character's journey.  There are a few little editing issues which I know some people get frustrated by but the story is such a well delivered one that I was able to overlook these and really enjoyed the book and have re-read it a couple of times.

• Therianthropy (book two of the Paradox Child trilogy): 4.5 stars out of 5

This book sees us continue on the journey young Lilly began in the first instalment and continues to deliver more great twists and turns, more characters and even more charm.  This is a book which I really loved and found to be a really fun read which was only slightly marked down by editing but I would recommend it to anyone still despite the little mark down.

• Original Destination (book three of the Paradox Child trilogy): 4.5 stars out of 5

The final instalment to the trilogy is one which offers readers another well developed and delivered journey that contains all of the charm and adventure that readers have come to love and expect following the first two books in the series.  This is a beautiful final book in the series and at the end I felt sad that I would no longer have more journeys with the characters I'd come to love over the three books.  Very much a highly recommended series and not let down by the final offering in the trilogy.