Description
What Readers are Saying
Mary Raco made me care about her five teen protagonists, then flung them headlong into extravagantly imaginative peril. The tension never lets up, and the ending left me wanting more. – Shane Porteous, script writer/actor.
‘What happens when you mix teenaged kids, a bizarre ancient world, and superpowers? You get the pulse-thumping, laugh along, gripping tale of Realm Travelers. Brilliant and often surprising, this stunning debut novel delves deep into relationships, past trauma, and the need to find oneself while in a world of wonder and control.
‘When Jack and his scavenger hunt team go looking for a Kookaburra on a school outing in Australia, they unwittingly fall into another world, one where everyone has a superpower, whether they know it or not. Before they can react, the kids are ambushed, captured, and forced to compete in deadly ancient games by the natives. They’ll need all their powers in order to face the South African captive team, one led by a young man fiercely determined not to lose.
‘The book delves deep into relationships, past trauma, and the need to find oneself while in a world of wonder and control. The author deftly navigates over a dozen strong, well-crafted personalities, their glee at learning they have powers, their resentment to being captured, their quest to get a leg up on the competition, and their horror at the aftermath of the deadly challenges.
‘Will Jack’s obvious affection for Max get in the way of winning these challenges? Is there any hope of defeating the native Invincibles, if they are even able to best the Afrikaners? Will the kids be able to overcome their differences and work together? Can their captors even be trusted to let them go, should they succeed? When the dust settles, will Jack have a team left to take back through the Gateway? In this stunning debut novel, all these questions find brilliant and often surprising answers.’ – Brent Meske, author of Super Nobody and The Alpha and Omegas Series.
About the Author
M J Raco, a mother of three and grandmother to one, lives in South-Western Sydney, Australia. She has dedicated over thirty years of her life to helping save and restore the sight of thousands of patients in Australia and Fiji.
She takes inspiration from the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: ‘Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.’
Realm Travellers – The Ancient Gateway is the first in a series of low-fantasy novels. The sequel, Realm Travellers – A Parallel Dimension, is scheduled for publication at the end of October 2020.
