Milan Ferko – “Fantazy”Magazine    The first ray of light for the summer of children’s fantasy   A new fantastic story, full of magic, mystery, miracles and surprises… Many years ago an entire continent disappeared from the earth. A powerful being – The Keeper of the Keys of Time- repositioned it in time and space thus creating a parallel world. The inhabitants in Mezzarthys preserved their ancient magical powers. As well as people, ghosts and other supernatural creatures, lived there and time flows slowly Into this world arrives a little girl. What little girl? Just the Little Girl, her name cannot be revealed for the name itself contains a power and the power connected with this particular girl is immense. She’s the only one who can stand up against threat of the cruel Mezzarthysian ruler who killed her mother, father, uncle and grandmother. However before she can do that, she must learn many things (magic and cooking amongst other things that her eccentric aunts teach her), she must survive many adventures, but most importantly, she cannot reveal her name. Before you know it, you will keep your fingers crossed for the little girl. The book, or to be precise, the first instalment of the planned series about a little girl was written by husband and wife team; Slovak expatriates, architects now living in Sydney, Mushka and Igor Molitor. In Mushka’s words the story was inspired by a dark tale she had heard from her grandmother when she was little. As the text grew many more found their way into it. The story is effortlessly constructed from usual motifs on the base of familiar scenes. An old and haunted house and a magical land where everything is different; an old man, puzzling insinuations, a black cat and mystery in a Poe-Stevenson kind of way – and suddenly a flow of explanations… In order to explain, the Molitors in their story combine patterns of a story with a mystery, which is widely popular in Anglophone literature and thanks to innumerable translations is also a well known genre here, with traditional fantasy. Since the story with a mystery tends to haze the storyline, while fantasy tends to indulge in descriptions and since the story with a mystery favours a meandering storyline while fantasy prefers a direct plot… at times, one can find “gigantic leaps” in the story about a girl from the land of Dragons and subconsciously worry that the tale may lose the ground under its feet. Fortunately, the story keeps its balance and so does the little hero. I won’t reveal any more, read it for yourself. In spite of the above-mentioned uncertainty of genre, the story will captivate you with its originality. Unpretentious, yet cultivated language, intense sometimes almost laconic writing and especially a lack of unnecessary pathos, preaching and tacky sweetness- the three ghosts of contemporary children fantasy among J.K.Rowling’s followers. All this raises the book to a high level within the genre. Within the Slovak context this is the first attempt at this kind of literature. I know it won’t be the last. However, so I don’t over-praise and over-contextualise – I must let you know that Mushka Molitor is a member of an Australian Society of Authors and therefore Slovak pride must stick a valaska in its pants and sadly chew on bacon thinking – if there is something to think with – why… However, foregoing national perspective and genre classifications, I must conclude in saying that the “Fugitive from the Land of Dragons” offers enjoyable reading for children as well as adults.   Recenzia - Miloš Ferko (časopis Fantázia)     MORE REVIEWS /IN SLOVAK LANGUAGE ONLY - WILL BE TRANSLATED SHORTLY/