12 year old Benjamina Ramella Chance, known as Bennie and her 10 year old sister, who is the best friend of Eila, Madir Sofitela Chance, known as Madir, or sometimes Mad for short.

Kim is a usual 12 year old boy, a little annoyed, if not a little afraid of his younger sister, Eila. Eila is a know-it-all but, she does, she is a 10 year old genius. She is an avid reader and absorbs the knowledge. She reads and writes Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian and Spanish, and has recently started learning Chinese, Japanese and Russian. Eila used to talk all the time about what she had learned, but Kim had told her to stop doing that because it annoyed their friends at school, and some of the teachers. 

Their parents are ecologists, following an 'alternative lifestyle’. They work for the high security government laboratories, in the experimental farm with six massive greenhouses, where they cultivate the scientific crops and also the family's fruit and vegetables. 

Kim discovered visit from his grandmother’d visit, that his mother's family name was Jones. But his parents changed their name to Basalt because it was named after a rock they liked and it was a strong name. Kim's father changed his name from Gary to Darwin, in honour of Charles Darwin, and Kim's mother changed her name from Peggy to Marie, to honour Marie Curie. Their children are named after the Latin names for plants.

At home they do not have a television. The parents expect the family to conserve energy by switching off the lights and to be in bed by nine o'clock to save electricity. They expect their children to help around the house and do not believe in giving pocket money. They do not have a car, but Darwin bought a job-lot of eight heavy duty bicycles from the Post Office, which they use when they want to go anywhere. Also, their parents will only allow them to read non-fiction books.

Bennie's and Madir's parents, Mr and Mrs Chance, have high powered jobs and are frequently absent from home. They rarely see each other at home, but when they do, they quarrel about whose job is the more important. 

They hire a cleaner and a gardener and used to hire a procession of child minders to look after the children, but their parents set such high standards, none could take the stress for long and left. Their parents now just give their kids pocket money to fend for themselves.

Later we are also introduced to the other two members of the gang, Theo and Tamara. 

The story starts when the sun goes out for a split second, and a sphere drops to earth and lands in the artificial lake close to their home. It emits a golden glow as it disappears below the surface of the water.

The four children are playing on the shore, when Eila decides to wade into the water and picks up this sphere... and that's when the adventure begins..

It is a riveting story. It is split between the sphere and the launch of a new game at the games shop, called Dungeons and Dragons as the children become very involved with this game.

As for the sphere. It possesses many special powers that one would expect an intelligent being, who has the power to travel interstellar distances, might possess. I'll leave you to find out how the story unfolds when you read the book and also enjoy the incredible twist in the tale at the end.

In true Garth Nix style this is a captivating story. However, I was disappointed to note there were a few typos and Americanisms in the book, hindering the flow of reading.

Regardless I would recommend this book for early teens to young adults, with confidence that you will thoroughly enjoy the story. 

The authors

Garth Nix has been a full-time writer since 2001, but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and as a part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve.His novels for children include The Ragwitch; the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence; The Keys to the Kingdom series; and Frogkisser! His short fiction includes more than 60 published stories, More than seven million copies of Garth's books have been sold around the world, they have appeared on the bestseller lists of The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, The Bookseller and others, and his work has been translated into 42 languages. He has won multiple Aurealis Awards, the ABIA Award, Ditmar Award, the Mythopoeic Award, CBCA Honour Book, and has been shortlisted for the Lodestar, the Locus Awards, the Shirley Jackson Award and others.