{"id":33687,"date":"2025-08-29T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=33687"},"modified":"2025-08-28T16:08:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T16:08:52","slug":"no-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/08\/29\/no-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"No Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Patrice Aggs <\/strong>& Joe Brady<\/strong> (David Fickling Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-78845-119-2 (PB)<\/p>\n

I normally aim to review unpublished and new books relatively close to their release date because people have minds like sieves and seldom sustain interest for unavailable items, but this is a long and eagerly anticipated treat and one everyone needs to be aware of as soon as possible. I might even remind you all closer to the release date… just see if I don\u2019t…<\/em><\/p>\n

Just imagine a Britain where the leaders ignore laws, suspend Parliament and rule by fiat. Consider curfews and lockdowns, citizens attacking each other over differing views, shortages in shops and direct monitoring and control of what the press and even teachers can say and do. Further ponder on what happens when impassioned protestors organise into militant groups, systematically and violently resisting armed interventions and oppressions doled out by an ever more heavy-handed police force and too-readily deployed army.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Patrice Aggs & Joe Brady did for their award-winning all-ages thriller No Country<\/strong>. The resulting comic saga was set in contemporary England; following comic-loving middle schooler Bea<\/em>, her little brother Dom<\/em> and far-too-bossy older sister Hannah<\/em> as they were forced to adapt to a rapidly-changing reality. Their dad used to work as a local councillor, but was sidelined on office and relegated to looking after the kids – although he spent his off-hours in quiet, secret meetings with other adults who all had worried faces…<\/p>\n

Mum had been gone for a while, but still connected to them via the internet… whenever there was enough electricity. She was safely living in another country, trying to get exit visas and paperwork so the family could be reunited… somewhere safe.<\/p>\n

Tensions ratcheted up when a long-declared Martial Law edict was shockingly enforced by New Army divisions who occupied the town and \u201crequisitioned\u201d everything not nailed down. Hannah was just getting to know her first proper boyfriend. He was part of patriotic rebel front Free Kingdom<\/em> – the other side of a rapidly escalating, ideologically fanatical civil war, ripping sedate stuffy Britain to pieces.<\/p>\n

Argumentative but always bonded by their \u201cSister Code\u201d Bea and Hannah already knew bad days were coming. They didn\u2019t care about stupid politics but as shortages mounted and hunger grew, with home raids and \u201csearches\u201d intensifying daily, friends and teachers started disappearing. When Mum finally contacted them, saying that their documents were ready the girls knew they must act immediately. Tragically, not everyone was there to get the message. Dad was missing…<\/p>\n

However, he had wisely drummed a contingency plan into them. With no time to wait, the moment to run had come…<\/p>\n

Picking up immediately after the close of No Country<\/strong>, the family history turns even more chilling here as the kids hunker down in a flimsy powered dingy, trusting everything to shady rogues in illegal boats… and the kindness of strangers they haven\u2019t met yet.<\/p>\n

How they got to this parlous state unfolds in a grimly harrowing, emotionally challenging flashback of tribulation that begins with Hannah taking charge and dragging Bea and toddler Dom across open country for days. Thankfully unaware of what both New Army and Free Kingdom forces are doing in equally determined searches for them, Bea argues constantly and leaves dangerously revealing picture messages for Dad, who she knows must<\/em> be following them. She also forces fiercely pragmatic Hannah to let a huge dog join the group. That proves to both wise and ultimately heartbreaking…<\/p>\n

Cold, starving, harried and hunted, the family experience hardship and the worst of civilisation in crisis, but are inevitably forced to give themselves up to get medical assistance when Dom succumbs to exhaustion and fever. Initial relief and gratitude turn to panic and fury as their baby brother is \u201cdisappeared\u201d and they must escape their draconian girls\u2019 boarding establishment to retrieve him. The frantic attempt takes them to the capital – a high-security oasis of calm and serenity where the rich and privileged have isolated themselves from the country\u2019s troubles and its lesser inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Utterly unstoppable, undaunted by continuing disappointment and prepared to face any risk, the girls make unlikely friends – such as a benevolent people trafficker – and persevere until a seeming miracle occurs…<\/p>\n

Every bit as compelling and rewarding as its predecessor, this is another superb exploration of the world\u2019s ongoing refugee crisis with the comfy, cosy UK all-too-convincingly substituting for Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine and now also the USA (and please feel free to look up why I chose those countries). This is a brilliant treatment of real-world problems any kid can grasp and be moved by, in exactly the same way books like The Diary of a Young Girl<\/strong> AKA The Diary of Anne Frank<\/strong>, Animal Farm<\/strong>, A Kestrel for a Knave<\/strong> or Lord of the Flies<\/strong> ushered in new, transformational understanding for generations of youngsters.<\/p>\n

Read carefully, read open-mindedly, but please do read.<\/p>\n

This volume includes a Phoenix Comic Club<\/em> feature steered by Aggs & Brady, providing discussion questions readers might want to think about after finishing the story…
\nText & Illustrations \u00a9 The Phoenix Comic 2025.<\/p>\n

No Refuge<\/strong> is published on 11th<\/sup> September 2025 and available for preorder now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Patrice Aggs & Joe Brady (David Fickling Books) ISBN: 978-1-78845-119-2 (PB) I normally aim to review unpublished and new books relatively close to their release date because people have minds like sieves and seldom sustain interest for unavailable items, but this is a long and eagerly anticipated treat and one everyone needs to be … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “No Refuge”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[191,42,239,132,111,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-drama","category-older-kids","category-satirepolitics","category-young-adult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8Ll","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33687"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33690,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33687\/revisions\/33690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}