Steampunk Canada

“Two Dads, five siblings and goggles!” This is how the author, David H. Burton summarizes the first novel in his new series, Scourge: A Grim Doyle Adventure. The fun part of his summary is that the description is based on his real life situation. The author lives near Toronto,Ontario with his partner, their three adopted sons and one basset hound.

Grim's story begins with him describing his home life and complaining about his siblings. Pretty normal for a 10 year old. What is not normal is just about everything else, from the crazy mechanical contraptions that move and scurry about their house, to the strange “glasses” their Dads have all of the children wear. It all becomes even more strange when Grim decides to escape to the attic for some peace and quiet. When he takes off his glasses, Grim describes them as being more like “goggles”, to clean them from the excessive dust, he finds that they have been keeping him from seeing the unique treasures in the old chest that he once thought was empty. When some of these treasures transport him to a strange world, Grim knows his life will never be the same. He finds his way home only to discover that his siblings know his secret. Just as he is going to explain everything, his whole family is thrust back to this strange place in order to save their lives. Grim soon learns that he and his family are far from normal and more special than he could have ever imagined. Because of this, Grim and his sisters and brothers end up at an orphanage where they encounter mythical beasts, wild and wonderful machines, danger and worst of all, chores!

David H. Burton has done a fantastic job of keeping his main character and his family very real. They are people you know. People with issues and disabilities, but with lots of love and a strong family bond. His minor characters are a great blend of good, bad and everything in between. Many times he surprised me with who was which.

Scourge is the first in a series of Grim Doyle adventures. It is written for children aged 9 – 12. While this middle school group will love Grim's first adventure, I found it a wonderful story for any age. I myself, far from being in that age group, enjoyed the story immensely! I cannot wait for the next in the series. I highly recommend this book to people of all ages.

For more information on David H. Burtonand his books visit his website.

Go here to see a trailer of Scourge!

Now for something SPECIAL! This review includes a giveaway. As a treat to members of Steampunk Canada, David H. Burton is giving away a personalized, autographed ebook version of Scourge that has the name of the winner swapped in for one of the minor characters in the book. We have 5 of these to give away. Simply comment here, or on the Steampunk Canada Facebook page and 5 lucky people will be randomly chosen to win!