Cursed, hunted, and trapped on a ship of dark magic and restless spirits, a young stowaway must fight to control the sea itself.
In Oceanforged 1: The Wicked Ship, award-winning Australian author Amelia Mellor launches a thrilling new fantasy series perfect for readers aged 8 to 12. We meet Cori, a thirteen-year-old orphan surviving under the thumb of a brutal pirate captain. Her world is turned topsy turvy when she discovers a piece of legendary magical armor—the Oceanforged Gauntlet—which locks onto her arm and chooses her for a heroic destiny. After escaping the pirates, she joins forces with Tarn, a boy who can speak to animals, and Jem, a young witch-in-training. Together, they must face the challenge of the fallen realm of Aquinta on a dangerous quest to find the remaining pieces of armor and restore hope to their world.
This book is a fantastic tool for the classroom because Mellor purposefully designed it for accessibility. She strips away the complex language and dense world-building that can often intimidate developing readers in the fantasy genre. The sentence structures are direct and the vocabulary is intentionally simplified, allowing the fast-paced adventure to pull readers along without stopping to work outy meanings. For visual learners or students needing extra support, Alessia Trunfio’s illustrations and the included map help them picture the characters and track the journey. The story features a 13-year-old protagonist tackling mature themes of injustice and courage, which will resonate with older students, yet the text itself is accessible to a younger reading level. This high-interest, low-readability combination makes The Wicked Ship an empowering choice that offers the excitement of an epic adventure while building the confidence of reluctant readers and English language learners.
