Rhys A. Jones' The Obsidian Pebble was published in 2011 and it was republished by Spencer Hill Press in 2013.
Information about Rhys A. Jones:
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Okay, okay, here’s the bio. Rhys A Jones preferred.
Rhys A Jones was born in 1955 and grew up in a mining village in South Wales with his nose in a book and his head in the clouds. He managed to subdue his imagination long enough to carve out a career in medicine, writing whenever the chance arose.
In 1994, writing as Dylan Jones, he published his first scary book for adults, a thriller, which was subsequently made into a two-part film by the BBC. Other scary books followed.
A growing desire to move away from adult thrillers and write for children is what currently preoccupies him. The Obsidian Pebble is the first in a quintet featuring eleven-year-old Oz Chambers whose family inherits a ‘haunted’ house. His mother wants to leave, but Oz wants to unlock the house’s mysteries and uncovers a secret that will change his life forever.
Rhys also writes for adults as DC Farmer.
Rhys has three grownup children who have emerged remarkably unscathed into adulthood. When not writing, he practices medicine and lives in darkest West Wales with his understanding (very) wife and two dogs.
Oh, and the Rhys is pronounced Reece – as in the actor Rhys Ifans of Mr Lovegood (Harry Potter) and The Lizard (The Amazing Spiderman) fame. Or perhaps it’s easier if you just think of Reece Witheespoon, though she is a lady.
Click here to visit the author's official website.
Information about The Obsidian Pebble:
11-year old Oz Chambers lives in a haunted house. His mother wants to move, but Oz would rather do double algebra (yuck) every day for twelve months than leave. Where others see spooky, Oz sees wonder and mystery and aching reminders of his deceased dad.
When he and his friends hear ghostly footsteps in the boarded-up dorm at Halloween, it leads to an exploration of the old place's eerie reputation. In his Dad's locked study, Oz finds a parcel addressed to him and posted by his dad the day before he died. Inside is the obsidian pebble, a technology of astonishing scientific power and a clue to Penwurt's secrets.
Suddenly Oz begins to change; he goes from maths dunce to A student overnight and has to deal with suspicious teachers and jealous pupils. But the footsteps in the locked rooms don't go away and slowly, Oz begins to knit together the strands of lies and mystery that tie the obsidian pebble, his father and him together. What Oz hasn't bargained for is that he's not alone in that search for understanding and that solving Penwurt's puzzles lead to other, much darker secrets that will test his loyalty and his bravery to the limit.
A REVIEW OF RHYS A. JONES' THE OBSIDIAN PEBBLE
Are you looking for a children's book that contains mysteries, adventure, friendship, modern life, family problems and fantasy/sci-fi elements? If you are, look no further, because The Obsidian Pebble is the book you want to read.
The Obsidian Pebble is the first part of the Artefact series. It's an entertaining book for children and young adults, but adults can also enjoy it, because it's a well written book with fantasy, science fiction and mystery elements. It's one of those rare children's books that will keep the reader glued to the pages of the book, because the story is very entertaining and just keeps on getting better and more addictive towards the end.
In my opinion The Obsidian Pebble is one of the most enjoyable modern fantastical adventure books available for children and young adult readers because it's reminiscent of classic children's adventure books. Although there are many modern elements in this book, it's easy to find a classic adventure book at its core. The author has built his modern story around a classic haunted house scenario in a successful and highly enjoyable way.
This book is devoid of the typical condescension that readers may often find in books that have been written for children and young adults. This is great, because it shows that the author doesn't underestimate his target audience.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
Oz's father has died in an accident, so he and his mother live alone with tenants at the Penwurt house. Oz is getting ready for a Halloween feast. He's going to spend the night with his friends - Ellie and Ruff - at the spookiest part of the old house. When the night comes, they hear footsteps and decide to investigate where the sounds are coming from. They soon end up exploring the mysterious past and reputation of the house and find interesting information about the house. Soon Oz finds a parcel addressed to him. There's an oblong box inside the parcel, which contains something important... Oz finds out that his father had been intrigued about an explorer, amateur archaelogist and adventurer called Morsman who has been trying to locate mysterious artefacts. Oz's mother doesn't like it that he's investigating things about Morsman... When Oz has opened the parcel, he suddenly becomes good at math. He doesn't know how this has happened, but he has a few ideas of his own about what happened... Oz's mother is thinking of moving away from the Penwurt house, but Oz is not so keen on the idea, because he likes the house and is intrigued by it and its mysteries. Soon Oz finds out new information about his father death and learns more things of the mysterious artefacts that his father mentioned in his papers, and things become dangerous for him...
This is the beginning of an excellent adventure for children and young teenagers.
The author has created an intriguing setting for his story, because Penwurt is a house that has a long history. The first part of the house was built ages ago and new wings and sections were later added to it. The mysterious revelations about the past happenings and history of the Penwurt house are genuinely interesting. It's possible to say that the Penwurt house is a perfect and memorable place for creepy and spooky happenings.
Oz's search for the mysterious artefacts is handled exceptionally well by the author. Rhys A. Jones writes about Oz's interest in the mysterious happenings in a good - and surprisingly addictive - way, because Oz is curious about many things and wants to know more about the artefacts and the past of the Penwurt house.
The author also writes well about how Oz gets himself into trouble by being interested in the artefacts. Oz is so interested in the artefacts that it causes problems for him, because his mother isn't happy about his search for them. Oz also gets into other kind of trouble at the end of this book, because there are people who are ruthless and will do almost anything to get their hands on the artefacts.
Rhys A. Jones has a wonderfully natural and realistic way of writing about Oz's life and how he feels about such things as school and his parents. I enjoyed reading about how the author portrayed the teachers and how Oz felt about them, because the author did it in an enjoyable way. The author wrote perfectly (and humorously) about how children feel about their teachers.
It's interesting that Rhys A. Jones explores depression in this book, because it is seldom explored in children's books. Although depression is a difficult and serious topic, the author writes realistically about it. It was interesting for me to read about Oz's mother depression and how Oz had had to look after her. I also found it interesting that Oz and his mother had found a way to communicate about her condition without words, because it isn't easy to talk about depression.
Rhys A. Jones pays attention to the importance of friendship, because Ellie and Ruff mean a lot to Oz. He writes fluently about how Oz needs his friends and how they spend lots of time together. The friendship between Oz, Ellie and Ruff reminded me slightly of the descriptions of friendship found in old adventure books.
One of the best things about this book is that it contains humour. The author uses humour in a good and sensible way. Because a few comments made by Oz and his friends are hilarious and surprisingly accurate, it's possible that readers may laugh out loud at certain points when they read this book.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the author takes his time to write about Oz and the relationship between him and his mother. I was intrigued about the relationship between Oz and his mother, because Oz's mother suffered from depression and they had found their own way of dealing with difficult things. They both suffered a loss when Oz's father died, but Oz's mother suffered the most and it affected her.
There are quite a lot of surprises in this book, because Rhys A. Jones offers interesting answers to certain mysteries. I enjoyed reading about Oz's search for the ghost and his secret investigations concerning the artefacts, because the revelations were surprising and indicated that Oz and his friends have a lot to deal with in the sequels.
I have to mention that the Halloween food that the author wrote about at the beginning of the story was portrayed as deliciously "spooky food", because Oz's mother had done her best to cook approriate food for Halloween. The author wrote well about marshmallow eyeballs, finger biscuits and other pieces of food that children are fond of eating and looking at during Halloween.
There are many references to games in this book. These references are handled in an interesting and often humorous way and they fit nicely into the story, because many children are interested in games. I think that children (and adults) who have played computer games will find these references amusing.
It was fascinating that the story became partly science-fictional during the last chapters. I think that all readers will be fascinated by this, because the revelations take the reader by surprise. I won't reveal what happens at the end of this book, but I'll mention that the ending suggests that Oz will soon experience many new adventures.
The addition of the Obsidian Pebble Lexicon at the beginning of the book is good, because there are probably many non-British readers who are not familiar with British terms. This lexicon helps these readers to understand the meanings of different words.
There's a charmingly British and Enid Blyton-like atmosphere in this book. I've always loved books that remind me slightly of Enid Blyton, because this kind of stories are entertaining. Rhys A. Jones follows nicely in her footsteps by writing about what happens to Oz, but does this all in a modern way. If you're a fan of Enid Blyton's books, you should read this book. This book can also be recommended to readers who have enjoyed reading about the adventures of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson (this book is different from these books, but it contains certain elements that may be of interest to readers who like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson).
Rhys A. Jones is a surprisingly versatile and gifted author. I recently read The 400lb Gorilla, which Rhys A. Jones wrote under the pseudonym of DC Farmer, and it was totally different from this book. It takes quite a lot of talent to write two totally different kind of books, because not many authors can do it.
I'll soon read Rhys A. Jones' second Artefact book, The Beast of Seabourne. I look forward to reading it, because there was something charmingly old-fashioned yet modern about this book that made me like it very much. This book was a pleasant surprise for me, because it's difficult to find this kind of children's books in which the author blends speculative fiction, modern life and difficult themes to create an original and addictive story.
The Obsidian Pebble offers lots of excitement, adventure, intrigue and mysterious happenings for children and young adults, but adults will also enjoy reading it. If there are parents out there who are trying to find something new to read for their children, this book should be on their list, because it's excellent entertainment. I think that readers of all ages will be thrilled to read this book, beause it's an entertaining and fantastical book about mysterious artefacts, friendship and family problems.
Good entertainment for readers of all ages!