(Contains spoilers for Children of the Rush 1)

Children of the Rush is a thrilling fiction history series following three 12-year-olds, ho have special powers, caught up in the Otago gold rush of 1861.

Atarangi is a Māori girl who recently lost her father to a horrible accident. She has a strong personality but is often discriminated against for her ethnicity and gender. Her power is that she can see gold. It emits a glowing hue. She barely uses this power as her mother hates gold. It holds no value to her and has caused many men to die or become greedy.

In the first book, she was living in a hotel, where her mother cooked for greedy, horrible men. They treated Atarangi and her mother, Hinewai, horribly, but they had no choice but to abide to their behaviour because no one else was willing to give a room to a Māori woman and her daughter. Then Atarangi met Michael. He was without a tent at the time - and freezing. She brought him gold, food and a blanket, and they soon became close friends.

Michael's mother passed away from typhoid fever while his father was hunting for gold in  Gabriel’s Gully. Left with the neighbours to take care of him, Michael knew he had to journey to Gabriel's Gully and break the news to his father. Michael found his father, Brendon, wounded and goldless. He could barely move and was severely injured. Michael was left to take care of himself and his father, still in shock about his wife’s death.

But he was forced to return to the Gully as they needed money for rent and had no other way of getting it. Michael’s power is that he can see people's “colours.” He can tell their personalities by a misty colour above their heads; the colour can have streaks in it too, that can show how they are currently feeling: sick, hungry, loving…

In the first book, Atarangi and Michael foiled a gang of violent thieves and the hotel that Hinewai worked for was left without an owner so the two children and their remaining parents moved in and made it homely, even adding a school at the back where kids, and sometimes adults come to learn things like Te reo Māori.

Siu is a small Chinese girl who arrives at the gully with her father. But what she lacks in size, she more than makes up for with personality. She is fiery and strong but incredibly worried about her father. Her mother died shortly after she was born and Siu never met her. Her father has a hunch that he knows where rich land is, so leaves Siu with Hinewai and Brendon. But Siu’s power is that she has visions and, after a horrible vision, Siu becomes terrified for her father’s safety.

My first impression of Children of the Rush 2 was that the text seems to absorb you. During action scenes I felt my heart beating faster and as the characters shivered, I found myself wriggling deeper under the blankets. James Russell did a great job crafting the story and I couldn't take my eyes away. Each of the characters have complicated personalities and the carefully chosen dialogue and decisions really brings them to life.

Earlier this year, I went to the Auckland Writers’ Festival where James Russell spoke about his other series, the Dragon Brothers. I remember he said something like this, “I was reading a book when I realised that I was breathing faster. My heart was beating faster. I wanted to write a book that did that to people.”

He definitely succeeded.

 I would recommend this book to kids 9 - 13, and people who like dramatic fiction. You don’t have to particularly like history to enjoy it. I find history boring but the Children of the Rush series made me want to learn more. It was interesting, fun, dark and heartwarming. 

Overall, I loved this book and learned a lot from it. Before, I didn’t even know what the gold rush was! I enjoyed the story and the character development was amazing. They each have strong personalities and it really helps the story move along. I give it an overall 8.5 out of 10, I would definitely recommend it to others. It's full of facts and adventure.

 Reviewed by Sofia Glucina