Kim is used to it by now, but it still annoys him and those around him. His little sister is two years younger at age ten, but everyone knows that she is way smarter. Kim has told her again and again not to correct others, especially adults and their teachers, but Eila can’t help herself.

Being her older brother however, Kim knows Eila might be super smart, a genius even, but she has no common sense. This is soon proven in ways Kim could never have dreamed of, and it begins with a strange glowing globe Eila finds in the lake.

Like most evenings, Kim and his best friend Bennie are down by the lake near their homes, and their younger siblings Eila and Madir are close by. None of them saw anything below the surface, but suddenly Eila walks straight into the water, picking up a globe shaped item. She holds it close, claiming it is talking to her.

Kim is instantly on edge wanting Eila to throw it back, threatening to tell their parents. But Eila counters his threat with his secret collection of novels and his Dungeons & Dragons games with his friends.

Their parents are practical, preferring non-fiction over fiction, no television, lights out for all at nine and up at sunrise. Kim has only his fiction and D&D as his own and doesn’t want to lose them.

Eila takes the globe home, soon calling it Aster, and claiming that Aster only wants to learn about humankind and help them. Trying to ignore the strange globe and its effects on his sister is hard, but Kim can’t see another option – until things go too far. He knows he must do something, before someone is really hurt… or worse.

With no one to tell but his best friend Bennie and his fellow D&D players, Kim is desperate for a plan to stop Eila and Aster. But it seems impossible. After all, who would believe them?

The very first chapter of this middle-grade novel grabbed me and held me to the last page. Finishing a novel in a day is always a great indication of a story to rave about. I gobbled up We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord around other tasks I was meant to be doing, unable to be away from it for too long.

Two kids, their siblings, then two more are sucked into unbelievable events around something found in the mud on the edge of a lake. The original mystery is intriguing as this object seems fantastical, magical and supernatural. Realising it is something even more implausible, steps up the attraction and tension in the story – especially as we get to know the characters.

Even though the parents did have some say on their daily lives, they aren’t key parts of the plot, which allows the kids themselves to nut out the problem, the plan and the fallout when everything takes a big step up to scary – even becoming life threatening for all.

A ripper read by a master storyteller and multi award winning author.

Author – Garth Nix

Age – 8+

(2024, Allen & Unwin, Action, Family, Mystery, Adventure, Courage, Fantasy, Historical, Secret, Alien, Control, Siblings, Friendships)