Word Spelunking

When author Ciye Cho asked me to review his book, I had no idea what to expect. I was intrigued by the synopsis, but after watching the book trailer, I just knew I had to read this book. And I’m certainly glad I did. Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure is a delightfully fun, enchanting, and cleverly original novel that captivated me with it’s limitless imagination.This book begins with a simple prologue, placing the reader in the far away world of Orberana, and describes the way this topsy turvy world was created by the mythical Wishing Fish. Shiewo Morose (who is human), the Captain of the ship Odyssey, along with her crew made up of Erduu (man made of bamboo), Theo (a young, talking cloud), Livingston (a cranky goldfish), and Felix (a human and a reluctant stowaway longing for a colorful adventure), set out into the sky to find the Wishing Fish. Along the way, this eclectic and merry group encounters more colorful adventure than they could ever imagine.This book is filled with so many fantastical elements, characters, and settings. This is the type of book that I searched for as a child. Cho’s creativity and imagination shine brightly throughout this book, and it really is one of the most original ideas that I have ever read. I found myself completely swept away into the story and enchanting world Cho creates in this book. One doesn’t usually think of the sky has a particularly exciting place to find adventure, simply because its so vast and barren, but in Cho’s world the sky is full of wonderment, magic, and the unexpected. Page after page, I found something new, and even more fantastical then the last thing, to marvel at- there’s a cloud castle, upon a tornado, built of weather; tornado children in training; a Sun King made of fire and magma; evil shapeshifting Wildebresse clouds; a world consumed by time, and so much more.The crew of the Odyssey make for an eclectic and fascinating group. Captain Shiewo is a tough, yet vulnerable and caring, smart female heroine. Felix adds a bit of exciting unpredictability to the crew and story. Theo and Erduu add a layer of humor and lightheartedness, while Livingston’s crankiness and sarcasm are too much fun to laugh at. I genuinely liked each and every one of these characters, and really liked the way this bunch of ragtag misfits feels like a family. The flying ship itself is a spectacular creation. The Odyssey is powered by music…how cool is that?! Shiewo plays a piano unlike any other, whose music travels to each deck of the Odyssey and is joined by all the various instruments on each deck. I can’t really do this ship and its design justice with my brief description, but Cho describes it in such vivid detail. In fact, the whole book is written with such great detail and imagery. Cho writes with such a lovely, lyrical flow and with such colorful, unexpected, and detailed language, that his world became very clear and bright in my mind. While reading, I kept thinking how awesome it would be to have this story read aloud to me, I even read a few passages aloud to myself. But one of the coolest things about this book is that Cho created a virtual interactive website for it. On this website I was able to see beautiful, colorful images of the characters and the ship, and listen to original music Cho composed for the book. I played some of the songs in the background while I read certain scenes, and this created such a fun, dimensional reading experience. MY FINAL THOUGHTS: This book is awesome! I really liked this book and enjoyed every moment of reading it. Cho impressed me with his one of a kind creativity and imagination, and Shiewo: A Fantasy Flight to Adventure captivated me with its fantastical magic and whimsy. I walked away from this book with a renewed and almost excited, childlike sense of wonder and adventure. I think younger readers would be delighted by this story and eager for more…as I am.Read the complete and original review (and many more) at Word Spelunking