Galadria: Peter Huddleston and The Rites of Passage

By: Miguel Lopez DeLeon
Publisher: Moon Shadow Press
Publication Date: May 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60956-008-9
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor 
Review Date: September 2011

Peter Huddleston is a good kid; he’s just one who wants to spend most of his time alone and not be bothered by anyone. The townspeople and neighbors actually refer to Peter as a ‘strange’ boy who no one seems to believe will ever make anything out of himself. Although Peter and his father get along, there is a tremendous ‘gap’ between them in the form of Gertrude, Peter’s stepmother - who is a very cold, hard woman who Peter just can’t seem to warm up to or even consider liking.

It is finally summer and school is officially out. All Peter wants to do is hang out, read his comic books, play with his boomerang, and be left all alone. He does like to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. Twickeypoo who are the owners of Creamers - a fantastic store that has candy and baked creations that everyone in the whole town loves. Mr. and Mrs. Twickeypoo are almost like grandparents to Peter because they are so nice and they always want to help save him from the rotten neighbors in their small town. Unfortunately, by sheer mistake, Peter and Gertrude have a battle. Gertrude is completely shocked and frightened of Peter and tells his father to send him away for the summer until he straightens himself out.

Peter can’t believe it when his own father goes along with what Gertrude asks, and sends him to a place called Hillside Manor. What Peter doesn’t understand at first is that his father is not actually punishing him, he is simply taking him to the only family his mother has left on this earth - her sister, Gillian.

Dad knows far more about Peter than he’s willing to share, and when Peter arrives at Hillside Manor he finds the largest amount of wealth in the world. He meets a servant named Monty who waits on him constantly, a zoo with every animal in the world, and thousands of miles where he can simply roam and have a good time.

Soon, he meets his mother’s sister - his Aunt Gillian - and is shown a magical world called Galadria. Peter will soon become a very important part of this fantasitic world. Peter finds out that he is the chosen one who will defend and protect the world of Galadria, and battle an enemy named Knor. The new world and the adventure that Peter begins is extremely thrilling, and the world of Galadria is chock full of fantasy, fear, friends, love, and sincerely fantastic characters.

Quill Says: Galadria is a world that readers will hope and pray sticks around for a good, long time.