The War Of The Heavenly Horses - Roland Chambers
- simpsonrd
- Jan 29, 2024
- 2 min read
The Adventures of Billy Shaman: The War of the Heavenly Horses is the second book in a feel-good,
exciting, accessible adventure series about exploration and discovery through the ages.
Shaman by name and shaman by nature, Billy hasn’t found his magic yet... but he’s learning fast with the help of a two-hundred-year-old talking tortoise, Charles Darwin, who guides him on journeys through the ages to return artefacts to their original home.
Inspired by the real Han-Dayuan War with black and white illustrations on every page, Billy’s time-travelling world-wide adventures are packed with humour, history and fantasy all perfectly blended in one place.
Billy wakes up on a Chinese battlefield. As horses stampede towards him, he’s saved from the jaws of death by a boy called Han. Taking refuge in the royal stables, the boys are soon held hostage by the Emperor Wudi. He’s at war with the Horse King, desperate to take the powerful and magical heavenly horses of Ferghana for himself. Billy will need all his skills and a very special spirit horse to get Han to safety and himself back to Charles.
Join Billy and become an explorer yourself, learning history along the way!
A fantastic mix of history and narrative, I love this series - the nods to and biographies of famous characters, great descriptions, and fast-paced, page turning action, along with fun illustrations, this will be enjoyed by many a KS2 reader.
(NB I say KS2 as there are some scary elements (SPIDERS!!!) and the historical context may take some explanation and support to get to grips with.)
Billy is a great character - likeable and caring, brave and thoughtful, and I can't wait to see what adventures follow in book 3!
The Author:
Roland Chambers is an author and illustrator who lives on a tumbledown
farm with his family near Dartmoor. He is the prize-winning writer of The Last
Englishman, a biography of Arthur Ransome (Faber 2009) for adults. Roland is
Writer in Residence for First Story, England’s leading creative writing charity for
young people.
Find out more:
#TheWarOfTheHeavenlyHorses | @ ZephyrBooks | @RolyChambers
Thanks to Udita and ed.pr for the advance copy and blogtour spot
Instagram: @ed.pr | X: @ed pr
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