The Explorers Guild: A Passage to Shambhala, Volume One, is an epic tale told in the vein of Rudyard Kipling or Jules Verne, and has the feel of The Adventures of TinTin. In the letter at the beginning of the book, the series curator, E. W. Blake, pens a letter to those who dare to open this first volume.
“Gentle Reader: It is modernity’s boast, of course, that man has mapped and measured, claimed and contested this earth down to its last inch. He has tamed its moods and subdued its monsters, and lit it from end to end with the fires of ingenuity. So we are assured. Yet we who have been canvassing this same earth though the centuries—who have been every place on it that you would care to go, and many more that you would not—we incline to a different view.”
The mission of the Explorers Guild is to find exactly that—the Unknown World, to search solely with the desire to know, from the Latin Cognoscere, to delve into the mysteries from the Arabian desert to the Arctic Poles. This first adventure takes place from 1912-1918, and while the First World War wages, the key players in the Explorers Guild are the Ogden brothers John and Arthur and their sister, Frances. As the title suggests, the adventure, full of fisticuffs, a pack of fierce soldiers loyal to the illusive John Ogden, is to find the hidden Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala.
Scattered throughout, illustrations by Rick Ross bring the golden age of adventure to life. The storytelling is dense and masterful. Teens will discover this book is a treasure trove to get lost in this summer. For those who love Indiana Jones, secret societies, and storytelling at its finest, pick up The Explorers Guild.
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