Reviews

What readers are saying

A real cinematic quality...

The strange energies, the remarkable inventions and the weird creatures that inhabit this school are wonderfully compelling… This is more than just a thrilling edge-of-your-seat adventure it’s about learning to believe in yourself and the power of friendships to become unstoppable collaborations even in the darkest of times.

It will have you gripped until the very last page...

Wow, what a book this is! I was in a bit of a reading slump then this popped through the letterbox and rescued me! …the story is fast paced and really keeps you on the edge of your seat. It certainly had me telling everyone about it – at work, home, anyone I spoke to was told about this fantastic book I was reading!

I’ve told all my friends...

I loved this book and hope I can read more Kip Bramley adventures in the future. Thank you Loris Owen for creating a new favourite book that I’ve told all my friends about!

A mind-blowing, puzzle-packed, epic adventure!

Such a fantastic book, packed with so many ideas… it’s hard to sum it up in one sentence.

Our recommended book of the month...

…a fast-paced full of action-adventure with some rather big surprises along the way. The storyline stretches the imagination like an elastic band propelling the reader on a great fantasy ride full of fun and enjoyment. It’s a really great sequel that takes you further into a creative world of discovery that is unlike any book I have read for some time. Packed with inventions, teamwork, and gadgets that will have you scratching your head…

Science fun...

Good fun, STEM themes. Clean fiction without being old-fashioned.

full of fantasy and mystery ... I found it really exciting...

I thought this was a really good book and I enjoyed reading it. It is about a boy called Kip who enjoys solving puzzles. One day he finds himself inside Quicksmiths College Of Strange Energy on their open day. He ends up attending the college and while there, he has to solve puzzles and riddles that had been set many hundreds of years ago by Eartha Quicksmith. There are a few illustrations in the book. I think this book is most suited to children of 9 and above.

I never knew what was going to happen and there are lots of surprises along the way...

I loved this book because it is very exciting. My favourite character was Kip because he is so good at solving mysteries by finding clues and working out the riddles. There are some really interesting and strange characters like Professor Steampunk who has four arms. I would recommend this book for 7 – 100 years old. Everyone will like it as it is such a amazing book!

Really good book that catches your attention straight away...

WILL THERE BE A SECOND?! … I loved this author’s style of writing and would love to join Kip and his friends on another adventure as soon as possible. A very heartfelt and surprising read. If you love puzzles this is perfect for you!!!!!!

definitely recommend...

This was a great book, I really enjoyed it. From the start the book makes you want to find out more, I really liked the main character kip. How he changes from a quiet person to a real adventurer, using science and technology to help him. I would definitely recommend reading this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and adventure.

You can't help but read this and imagine that anything is possible...

A fast-paced adventure imbued with the true magic of science and all the limitless possibilities of the world. You can’t help but read this and imagine that anything is possible and there’s still so much of the world to discover … There are wormholes and timeslips and thoughtwaves and slipstreams and so much more! This book will make people want to go to the Quicksmiths College of Strange Energy like how the kids of my generation desperately wanted to go to Hogwarts. I love the locations there, the atmosphere – all of it…

incredibly inventive, fabulously funny

Stuffed with likeable characters and a plot that will keep you guessing until the very last page. One of the best children’s fantasy books I’ve read … Do not miss it!

hoping that there will be a sequel...

An entirely fresh take on the ‘child-from-the-normal-world-gets-magically-transported- to-boarding-school’ genre…I recommend this to anyone looking for an alternative to Harry Potter or the Nevermoor stories.

a thrilling race-against-time fantasy

Venturing into the world of Quicksmiths for the first time brought that same buzz and excitement that I felt when I first visited Hogwarts…. The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith does for the sci-fi world what Harry Potter did for the magical world and this is a wonderful thing.

a huge series!...

With brilliant team building and camaraderie throughout, celebrating differences and talents and believing in yourself, this will be a popular book for readers 9+. Fun inventions and gadgets, the use of wormholes and other technology, this is a super scientific celebration!"a huge series!" With brilliant team building and camaraderie throughout, celebrating differences and talents and believing in yourself, this will be a popular book for readers 9+. Fun inventions and gadgets, the use of wormholes and other technology, this is a super scientific celebration!

This is a story so many children will identify with...

…those who feel alone, knowing there is something special about themselves that no one else really understands. Children who love a challenge intellectually and thrive on solving puzzles will be pulled in from the very first page.

This book is a winner on the title alone!

Longlisted for the North Somerset Teachers‘ Book Award There are plenty of imaginative and creative ideas, making this an original take on boarding school stories. Friendship, teamwork and loyalty are all seen to be important and the puzzles are well plotted … a thoroughly enjoyable story, full of imaginative details and plot twists! Great fun!

Perfect for fans of Harry Potter... readers will be enchanted...

This is a fast-paced adventure that combines magic and science in an entirely new world where science isn’t quite as we know it … the college itself is somewhere children will be desperate to go to, from the dorm rooms to eating in the Buttery, the different classrooms and everything the grounds hold…

The unravelling of the riddles is spectacular...

…an amazing job of keeping the characters and the readers on their toes with brilliantly seeded puzzles that are challenging, clever and unbelievably imaginative… …Eartha Quicksmith and her riddles are the star of the show...

an inventive, mind-bending, dimension-hopping adventure...

Crackling with the fizz of magical science … children will delight in getting to know Quicksmiths College. Science should be seen as a subject that allows the imagination to break its boundaries, and this is a book that will encourage children to view it in such a way.

a splendid novel!...

Science rules over magic here. But here’s the thing, science can be so much more exciting than magic because it’s real!!! This is a great book for any fans of science fiction or magic lovers who need a push in the right direction. I loved it and I know that it’ll be enjoyed by many UKS2 readers… Oh and one last thing. THIS BOOK HAS HOVER BOARDS!

a 𝗠𝗨𝗦𝗧-𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗...

This book is mind-blowing! Full to the brim of adventure, fantasy, wit, and wonder… I actually found myself laughing out loud many times throughout the book – something I have only ever experienced a few times in my whole reading life! Every single thing about this book is so creative and inventive.

one of the noblest middle-grade heroes I've read in a long while...

In a plethora of books that follow this kind of ‘chosen one going to a special school’ genre it can take something special to make it feel new and interesting, and this is precisely what Loris Owen has managed to do with The Ten Riddles of Eartha Quicksmith… This refresh of the genre also plays into the plot in ways that make it new and exciting … it also packs in plenty of excitement and surprises, along with a host of supporting characters that are a load of fun in their own right.

an absolute wonder and a joy...

I love this book. Right from the start I was gripped by its mysteries and its puzzles, and it just pulled me further in to this fantastical world. It’s exciting, it’s funny, and it’s very clever … this is definitely a series you want to get into now, at the start!

a fun, whimsical, sciencey adventure...

The idea of Strange Energies is so intriguing and I recognised it immediately as that ‘something’ that I can always sense in the atmosphere and from the corner of my eye, so I’m sure that enthusiastic young readers will too. Like Kip, I wanted to uncover all the scientific mysteries that lay within Quicksmiths’ walls.

Where to buy

Quicksmiths books are available at all good bookshops. If you are buying internationally, you can find the books on Amazon, or as audiobooks on numerous platforms, including the ones shown below.