Felix and the Future Agency by Rachel Morrisroe – Get Kids into Books
Illustrated by Paddy Donnelly.
Published by Simon & Schuster, 2025.
I first heard about Felix and the Future Agency at the Simon & Schuster showcase event for book bloggers and I immediately knew it was a book that I wanted to read. It was giving me wonderful Amari and the Night Brothers vibes and sounded exactly like my kind of book: fantasy adventure with oodles of magic and a troubled hero. The unexpected twist at the end of the first chapter confirmed that this was, indeed, going to be an exciting read!
Felix Green has a talent – a talent that often gets him into A LOT of trouble – he can foresee the future. And he’s not the only one! When his latest prediction comes true, he soon finds himself whisked off to join the secret underground Future Agency. Alongside other children who can see the future, he starts to learn how to protect the country from future natural disasters – summoning animal star constellations down from the sky, dream weaving and speaking to ghosts. When a dark spectre infiltrates the Future Agency, only Felix can unmask the culprit and save the agency from destruction.
Rachel Morrisroe has given us a vividly imagined world, hidden beneath the streets of London. Disused underground train stations are brought to life, populated by the supernatural and otherworldly. Celestaurs are conjured from the constellations, ghosts from times gone by roam the platforms and board the trains, and recruits see the future via premonitions. And then there’s the Magic Mile – a bustling row of shops and cafes with all sorts of wondrous items for sale. Personally, I’m always partial to a fancy bit of stationery and so I was delighted by the stationers selling sparkly premonote books (for recording premonitions). Another stroke of genius is the café with fairy cakes that actually fly (and need catching in a net by the customer).
I loved how there are three different disciplines to master in this world of premonitions, each with their own distinct skill sets: spirit speaking, dream weaving and astrology. The book is a masterclass in world-building and I was absorbed from the first page.
The book also tackles difficult themes such as grief and loss with sensitivity. There are important conversations around anger and how this essential emotion can be channelled for good. In addition, the book explores and celebrates dyslexia. Felix is dyslexic and it’s presented as a superpower rather than a hindrance. It allows him to problem solve and think creatively. This sort of positive, inclusive representation is vital in children’s books.
Felix and the Future Agency is a thrilling high-octane adventure which ends on a blinder of a cliffhanger. Roll on book 2!
Rating: 💙💙💙💙💙
Suitable for children aged 9+
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for sending me this book to review. I reviewed it as part of the Felix and the Future Agency blog tour. Check out all the other posts on the tour for more exclusive content.
