This book is imaginative and inspired, it has elements of reality and of a world we are in the process of creating. It plays on every child's fantasy of being able to communicate with animals - in this case, magnificent lions. Set in an inderminate future, Charlie the young hero finds resources of inner strength as he sets off across the ocean to find his parents who have been kidnapped. Charlie finds himself aboard a circus ship, filled with well-drawn characters and Corder writes evocative descriptions of the atmosphere. Less successfully drawn are the characters of the parents, I felt, but Charlie is an entirely believable and sympathetic character. Children will thrill to and share in his emotions during this adventure, and will enjoy the almost magic-realism of a world which is almost recognisable but altered slightly, as in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I presume that this is also the first in a series, as the ending does not come to a conclusion - a good gimmick to get people to buy the next instalment, but well worth it to see if Zizou Corder can pull it off.