Really good portrayal of 18th century London; a real grasp of the limitations of class, race and gender; brilliant use of the elemental/river stories; and an adventure which took us round the city. The climax of this was super enthralling too, and I’m most definitely going to be continuing in the series.

A London where magic sparks just beneath the surface – this book is set to ignite young imaginations.Patrice Lawrence continues to champion the voices of British authors and illustrators of colour through her work with schools. The sleeping sickness affects poor people because they yearn for so much, yet rich people are not susceptible because they don’t face such struggles. Alex Wheatle, author of Cane Warriors “BRILLIANT… history and fantasy woven magnificently into a thrilling, magical adventure” – Sophie Anderson, author of The House with the Chicken Legs “A fantastic adventure, packed with rich world building and stunning elemental magic. Her first book for young adults, Orangeboy, was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and won the Bookseller YA Prize and Waterstone’s Prize for Older Children's Fiction. The idea that the four ‘elements’ – earth, water, air and fire – make up all matter was the cornerstone of philosophy, science and medicine for nearly 2,000 years.

This one is a bit baffling: there are two names used in this book that are the names of real historical characters, but they aren't those characters. The Elemental Detectives is a rip roaring magical adventure… Patrice Lawrence has done a marvellous job of building an imaginative and creative mythology which lurks just under the city streets. It beggars belief that there are so many rich people with no one to miss – and this gaping plot hole often took me out of the story when it was mentioned. I wish the book would have focused on EITHER the elemental beasts OR the Ether OR the Shepherdess instead of putting it all in one book and seeing what sticks.

Welcome to eighteenth-century London, where there are four Elemental spirits that most humans know nothing about: the fiery Dragons, airy Fumis, earthbound Magogs and the watery Chads. I will say that the book lost momentum in the final act, and the overall ending was a bit unsatisfying and sudden. A novel where the key characters aren't white, male and middle class and don't have to have special powers to be the heroes.

Her writing has won awards including the Waterstones Children's Book Prize for Older Children and The Bookseller YA Book Prize. Set within the ancient streets of London, the world that Lawrence has created is one which is ruled by the Elemental spirits – the Dragons (fire), the Fumis (air), the Chads (water) and the Magogs (earth). Indigo Donut was shortlisted for the Bookseller YA Prize and the Carnegie Award, was Book of the Week in The Times, The Sunday Times and The Observer, and was one of The Times’ top children’s books in 2017. And then, there are, of course the Elemental spirits who co-exist with the human population: the earthy-clay Magogs, watery Chads, fiery Dragons and airy Fumi.When he helps Marisee escape some attacking sleepers, he discovers a world of Elemental spirits, serpents in the Serpentine and ghosts in Hyde Park. The magic system was super fascinating — your typical four Elementals (air, earth, fire, and water) embodied by different features of London’s atmosphere, subtly changing human (or “Solid”) history under the noses of most. a genuinely creepy villain in the form of a rusty-round the-edges Bo Peep (steel yourself for her lullaby earworm); Turnbell-of-Turnbill-Brook performed by a woman in breeches and waistcoat. One of those books that you can’t put down and need to know the end, but at the same time, you don’t want to finish it too soon. Additionally, historical events could be explored with alternative narratives, challenging children to explain the cause of the events by using the Elemental spirits as the catalyst of disaster – Dragons (fire), Fumis (air), Chads (water), Magogs (earth).

Author of the well-loved YA novel Eight Pieces of Silva (2021, Hachette) and Children’s and YA Jhalak Prize winner Patrice Lawrence offers readers a new, middle grade fiction series published by Scholastic UK– The Elemental Detectives. As with her other books, Lawrence has created caring, sensitive and self-aware protagonists of colour in the Elemental Detectives. Patrice Lawrence is the multi-award-winning author of Orangeboy, which won the 2017 Waterstone’s Book Prize, the 2017 YA Book Prize and was shortlisted for the 2017 Costa Book Awards and the Carnegie Award. A gorgeous tactile book cover is dashed about with gold and the end pages have been sprayed with pure dragon fire breath!Mortality was a problem not exclusive to the poor in the 1700s – disease, war, and childbirth were all to perilous even for the moneyed classes.