Book Review: Pax and the Missing Head by David Barker

In a country beset by civil war, New London defends itself behind a giant wall.

Inside the city, children are forced to work from an early age, except for the lucky few who train to be leaders in the re-purposed Palace of Westminster. 12-year-old orphaned Pax is brilliant at recycling old tech. He enjoys working on the verti-farms and just wants a bit of peace and quiet.

But when that is taken away from him, his only hope is to pass a near-impossible exam and join the other students in Scholastic Parliament. There he’ll make new friends and new enemies. He’ll get tested like never before. And he’ll discover that not everything is quite what it seems under the mayor’s harsh leadership.

GENRE: Middle Grade Scifi/Dystopian

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: David Barker attended the Faber Academy in 2014 and from that had three climate-fiction thrillers published (The Gold Trilogy, Bloodhound Books). He joined SCBWI in 2018 as he shifted his focus to a younger audience. Pax and the Missing Head is his Middle Grade debut. He lives in Berkshire with his wife and daughter. He has a passion for stories, sport and boardgames.

Review

This is Harry Potter with elements of multiple dystopian favorites, and I love it.

Having been to London multiple times and living in England for nearly two years now has certainly helped increase my appreciation. So has my love for Middle Grade and Young Adult books, and the dystopian genre in general. (Sure, it kind of feels we live in a dystopia now, but MG and YA novels manage to retain a semblance of hope; we know the protagonists will triumph in the end, even if they suffer pain and loss along the way.)

The strongest part of the book, for me at least, is Pax. He's a very likeable protagonist, which I believe is important in stories like these. The other characters gave off familiar vibes (Samuel was kinda like Ron, Megan like Hermione, Zachariah Draco, Briony Cho), but that didn't really bother me because they worked quite well as Pax's friends and adversaries, and they eventually became characters of their own. I especially enjoyed the droids though — Bee-Bop, Roacher, heck even the Knights of the Round Table. (And Bee-Bop's stunt at Capture the Flag... was that a nod to Star Wars? I hope I'm right, because I cackled!)

I also enjoyed the reimagining of London, and the scifi elements used throughout.

All in all, this was a great first installment to a series. I can't wait for the next books and for more of Pax's adventures!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️⭐️️

Also By the Author

The Gaia Trilogy, set in a water-starved world where international agents fight to keep doomsday at bay:

• Blue Gold - Climate change and geopolitical tension have given rise to a new international threat: a world war over water. This vital resource has become a precious commodity, and some will stop at nothing to control its flow. When a satellite disappears over Iceland, Sim Atkins joins the Overseas Division to hunt for the terrorists responsible—a quest that will take him and his partner, Freda, to a billionaires’ tax haven in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and into a web of deceit.
• Rose Gold - In the aftermath of war, tensions remain high and terrorism is a daily fact of life. But a mining base on the moon offers a rare example of international co-operation and a possible solution to the world’s energy problems. Yet not everyone on Earth is keen for this endeavour to succeed—and Sim Atkins’s plan to start a family with his wife may have to be put on hold.
• White Gold - Agent Atkins has returned home after surviving his last deadly mission, and all he can think about is finding the criminals responsible for a heinous act. But his fury and lust for revenge must be set aside when a nuclear warhead is stolen.