The Invisibles by Susie Bower – Get Kids into Books

Published by Pushkin Children’s, 2025.

The Invisibles has all the elements of my favourite type of book: fantasy adventure, magic and intrigue. Plus, incredible, immersive world building. The story captured my imagination from the off and I found it utterly absorbing.

In the Land of Magics, four friends live a life filled with wonder. But there’s one rule they must not break: never set foot on the Island of Darkness. So, when one child does the unthinkable, they must all pay a terrible price – exile to Wasteland, the bleak world where only grown-ups live.

I really enjoyed the contrast of the two worlds: the joy and colour of the children’s world versus the dreary, grey world inhabited by the adults. It’s a striking metaphor for what we often lose when we leave the uninhibited freedom and imagination of childhood for the responsibilities and pressures of adulthood.

A few chapters into the book, there is an abrupt change of perspective in the narrative. This worked brilliantly. As a reader, you’re left trying to piece elements of the story together and I love a book where you’re busy trying to make connections and figure things out. This mirrors what our new narrator, Grace, is also having to do. Grace has arrived in the Wasteland with no memory of her past; she doesn’t even remember her name. Little by little, fragments of her past return to her, triggered by music or the memory of a story. These tantalising details offer us a glimpse into Grace’s past and she must piece everything together to discover the truth of who she is, why she’s here and how she can escape.

There’s much about the power of stories and imagination. The children are trapped in a place where imagination is feared or dismissed as nonsense by adults. There are also themes of friendship, trust and teamwork. This is all set against a backdrop of liquid skies, grey dystopian cities, flying pigs, mazes, and a library with books that fly from the shelf to your hand.

This is an absolute gem of a book. It’s beautifully and suspensefully written and, at less than 300 pages, it means that it’s also accessible to less-confident readers who might find longer children’s novels off-putting.

Rating: 💙💙💙💙💙

Suitable for children aged 8+

Thank you to Pushkin Children’s for sending me this book to review. I reviewed it as part of The Invisibles blog tour. Check out all the other posts on the tour for more exclusive content.