Eye Of Osiris by AB Shires (The Shipley Five)

6/10

Five children from Shipley find a crystal that transports them to a mysterious hallway of magical treasures and doorways to other worlds. All five enter the dark world of Osiris plagued by sirens, beasts and Dark Lords - only four return. Each child receives special powers through the magic of the crystal - the Eye of Osiris - and the group is challenged to befriend a mystical people known as the Daraan and help them in a war against the Damned. The Shipley Five enlist help from the Ithfirians, the Lemothinians and the Eli.

Eye of Osiris is a contemporary fantasy told in the third person narrative. Much of the book's content is reminiscent of CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles and author AB Shires has no issues with acknowledging his influences:

"Where do you think we are?" asked Lisa looking at the huge stone hallway before them.
"Narnia... we're in Narnia" exclaimed Muneeb with excitement. 
Eye Of Osiris: The Crystal and the Hallway

There are a lot of admirable qualities to be found in this book and the UK book market will surely be a better place with more novels that feature such a healthy mixture of British and British Asian lead characters. The main downfall of the book is, in my opinion, that it is too "wordy". At four-hundred pages in length it is more the double the size of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and as such will prove too much of a task for many older children and young adults. I felt that the story could have been told in half the number of words by simplifying the narrative, mainly in the area of the dialogue, as I found that often there are just too many characters talking in any given conversation.

The plot itself is rather formulaic - fight, visit new location, fight, meet new characters, fight, visit new location etc... and the heavy narrative prevented any kind of flow. This unfortunately does not allow the reader to lose themselves within the pages as is compulsory for a fantasy novel. There are some neat touches within though - the magical food tree is a delight.

I felt that Eye Of Osiris does not know whether it is aiming at children or adults and as a result falls somewhere in between. It lacks that certain charm and magical quality that the best children's fantasy books possess and is without the gritty realism that is now found within the adult fantasy books.