German online bookstores have a new blue cover for Conor Kostick's Epic. Apart from the colour change the only new thing appears to be a tag line:
Ein Fantasy-Thriller aus der Welt der ComputerspieleThe original red cover for Epic can be seen here.
Epic seems to be doing very well in Germany and Conor now has an entry in the German language wikipedia. The new wikipedia article is not quite as extensive as the English language entry, but it adds that Conor was born in 1964 in Cheshire.
Krash is a boys general interest magazine that is published monthly and distributed in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. Recently they featured Epic in a four page extract.
EPIC, by Conor Kostick is described as a blend of Lord of the Rings fantasy and the virtual reality world of the Matrix. A boy named Erik is living on New Earth where Epic, a sword and sorcery virtual reality game, determines what happens to you. Erik subverts the rules of the game, and he and his friends are drawn into a world of power-hungry, dangerous players.
This monthly magazine is targetted at boys and girls aged 9 to 13 published by Australian Consolidated Press in Australia and New Zealand. The dragon is from the Australian cover of Epic. Pity the poster doesn't have Conor's name...
The review, which isn't online, is by Celia Keenan, who is the Director of the MA Programme in Children’s Literature and Lecturer in English at Saint Patrick’s College, Drumcondra (Dublin City University) and the president of The Irish Society for the Study of Children's Literature.
Contemporary and futuristic fantasy can provide a powerful critique of dehumanisation and help explore ideas about identity. […] Conor Kostick’s Saga falls into this category. Saga, the sequel to Epic is suited to a slightly older readership (15-16 yrs) because of the challenge of the narrative form, the shifting point of view and the sophisticated structure based on virtual reality games.
In the world of blogs Jamie at Here Be Subtlety picks Epic as her children's book of the year. The oft-mentioned Lady Schrapnell starts and finishes Saga. And sammywol recommends Saga as well.
