Voyage of Pearl of the Seas: A fairytale prequel to Black Inked Pearl by Ruth Finnegan is an adventure story with fantastical experiences that will take readers on a journey of mystery, magic, and wisdom. Kate, Chris, and Holly, the dog, are having fun and their lives become adventurous when they sail off in Dragonfly, the ship they make out of a dirty old log. The journey takes them to a deserted island where they meet King Aahal and Queen Aram, who give them lessons about God and wisdom. Their voyage makes Chris and Kate grow up and support each other during good and bad times. It is a story about friendship, adventure, mystery, and whimsy and has some good messages for readers.

I like the author's combination of prose and poetry while narrating the story. It gives the book a unique and fresh feel while reading. The detailed descriptions, poetic style, and the black and white sketches make the story palpable to readers, along with the characters and the scenes. It is a good book to enhance vocabulary, introduce children to writing poetry, and expressing themselves in a different way. The book can be read out in classrooms or at home by parents to children because of the metaphorical expressions. I like nautical themed stories and this book captures the essence, sights, and sounds of the ocean beautifully. It is definitely a good book, especially for all those young readers who love adventure, action, suspense, and magic.

Voyage of Pearl of the Seas is a work of fantasy fiction with adventure and action elements, and it was written for children by author Ruth Finnegan, with illustrations provided by Rachel Backshall. Developed as a pre-teen prequel to Finnegan’s earlier work, Black Inked Pearl, this ethereal and dreamy adventure sees two children build the boat that their imagination demands, and set sail into a whole new world where lessons about life, and themselves, are learned. What results is a truly surreal journey with many evocative and emotional themes, plus lyrical and poetic phrasing to take us into the consciousness and emotional state of the characters during their adventures.

Whilst the lyrical and poetic stylings of author Ruth Finnegan will not suit all readers, this toned-down version for younger readers can also act as a suitable primer to discover this author’s unique style of storytelling. There are some shocking moments and emotive attitudes that link well with the full novel, Black Inked Pearl, which clearly inspired this work throughout, but it’s the work on imagery and devotion to imaginative rule-breaking in language which stands out amongst the other story elements. This toying with ideas and themes creates strong emotions in the reading experience, taking us on a truly dream-like experience where sudden changes of color, tone and content shift and shock. For my part, I would recommend Voyage of Pearl of the Seas to readers from the young end of the YA spectrum upwards, and it will make a challenging introduction to metaphysical and poetic tales for them.