Foundling by D.M. Cornish

Foundling starts off being a little too Harry Potter. Rossamund, young orpan boy, bullied by the bigger boys, mysterious origins, odd adults are inexplicably kind to him, etc. Luckily this all stops quite quickly and we find Rossamund travelling the road through strange lands.

As a travelling book this one travels extremely well.

The lands are permanently menaced by monsters, and the brave monster hunters travel the lands to hunt them down and keep people safe. As Rossamund travels, he discovers this isn’t quite as straightforward as he grew up believing and there is fairness to be found in the so-called monsters, and it is often people who offer the greater threat.

This fantasy novel is firmly on the technology side of things, with firearms, optics, chemistry, and even electricity playing their part in the tale.

This is the first book in a trilogy so there is no ending as such, more a ‘to be continued…’ The last hundred or so pages are taken up with an illustrated glossary to introduce us to the world and its odd names for things. Which is nice.