Brief

Gagan Saini, the bestselling author of 'The Jugni,' brings to the readers the pre-teen fantasy tale 'Ellie and The Orin Prophecy,' a fantastic story about a girl who saves the universe with her unicorn.

What We Liked

In this appealing, unique, and magical world, inhabited by equally interesting characters, we see Ellie grow to become her true self, a brave resourceful girl, and stand up for what is right for the Star World, against more powerful creatures, everyone else's doubts, and even against the powers that be. Surrounded and encouraged by other very strong and intelligent women, Ellie represents the power in the new generations to fight against old and harmful ways. The author created a story with strong facets, and appealing characters. The story is well described in key moments and the author has a great ability to create strong female characters.

Film: This book has all the elements to hold a very strong film: a compelling protagonist, a visually ambitious world, and a message worth sharing with younger audiences. In a contained format, every second of the story would keep the audience on the edge of their chairs, and a summer release could turn this fantastic adventure into a phenomenon amongst pre-teens.

TV: There are so many happenings in this fantastic adventure, this story could be greatly adapted to an episodic limited series targeted to pre-teens. In each episode, the audience would get to see Ellie discover a new face of the magical Star World, and have all the many characters, their arcs, and the world rules carefully develop will allow the fantasy to be properly absorbed by the audience. With the many challenges Ellie faces, it won't be hard to find a compelling hook to end each chapter of this adventure.

Key points: The fantastic setting (Star World); the strong female characters; the redemption arc surrounding so many characters; Ellie's courage to question the powers that be; unicorns and other fantastic beasts.

Synopsis

Ellie and her half-brother Arum live in New Delhi, India, with their grandmother, a wise old woman, Arum's mother, the selfish Maya, and sporadically with their father, when he isn't traveling for business. Ellie is a brave girl who loves to hear her grandmother's stories about fantastic kingdoms in the stars and is always ready to protect her younger and chubby brother. Their day-to-day consists mostly of going to school, stopping at their favorite bakery for treats, and playing at the city park. At home, besides work from school, Ellie is also forced by her step-mother Maya to clean the house and help her grandmother in the kitchen. Their father, who is always working hard to support the family, never stays for too long. On Ellie's 11th birthday, which is also the death anniversary of Ellie's mother and grandfather, Maya forbids the grandmother to spend any money on a cake. Still, the grandmother is able to prepare a surprise intimate party with the help of the town's baker, her friend Hamza. Dressed like a princess and happy about her cake, Ellie leaves to school, but when she comes back, she finds her grandmother has disappeared. Unable to get Maya or their father to help, Ellie and Arum seek the assistance of her grandmother's trusted friends: Bikhu and Hamza. By using a magical powder, Bikhu finds out that Maya has stolen two golden pearls from the grandmother, who was later abducted by evil minions who work for Repahu, an evil entity from the Star World. Hamza and Bikhu reveal to the kids that not only the stories about the Star World were real, but their grandmother is the Fairy Princess, and that Repahu wants to dominate the universe and plans to use their grandmother her to lift the protection wall on all kingdoms. Determined to save her grandmother, Ellie convinces Hamza and Bikhu to take the foursome on a journey to the Star World, to seek help from the King.

The King, however, is out of the palace, and Ellie and the others are turned down by the Prince's wife, who doesn't believe their story about Princess Himanshi's kidnapping, or that they are heirs to the King, especially because they clearly don't belong to the Star World. In order to fit in, Ellie decides she must seek a unicorn, as all the people in this world have a companion animal, and unicorns are what most women choose to accompany them. But, first, she needs a saddle made by an ani-human; the problem is all ani-humans are now on Rupehu's side. But there is one, who failed to kill the Princess, their grandmother, years ago, and was kicked out of the army as punishment. Ellie and Bikhu go to the ani-human's house, as Hamza and Arum wait for them in the forest. However, the ani-human denies helping them; his main reason is that he has a knife stuck in his back that forbids him to do anything and is the source of great pain. Even though he denies helping her, Ellie still removes the knife from the creature's back, releasing it from its suffering. On their way back to Arum and Hamza, they find them missing; Bikhu uses the magic powder to relive the scene, and they find out the two were kidnaped by Rupehu's minions, who now also hold the Prince and the King prisoners.Ellie and Bikhu go to the unicorn mountain to get Ellie a unicorn, but she can only enter the cave alone. Inside, she tries to talk to the unicorns, as the first one to answer is the one she'll have, but none talks to her. She then sees isolated in an island Orin, the only white unicorn, and the leader of them all. But he is surrounded by crocodiles. Using her intelligence, Ellie is able to cross the waters and talk to Orin. The crocodiles promise her loyalty and protection from all water creatures. Ellie and Orin exit the mountain together.

Outside, Bikhu realizes Ellie is the chosen one to ride Orin, and the Prophecy says the Orin rider is the one who will defeat Rupehu. The ani-human whom Ellie saved gives her a saddle as a sign of gratitude for the knife removed. Ellie, then, rides Orin towards Rupehu, as Bikhu and the ani-human, now named Moti, go to inform the other kingdoms about Rupehu's plans to destroy Fairy World, and then the other Kingdoms of the Star World. On her way, Ellie asks for the help of the Seven Saints, who gave Rupehu most of his powers, but they claim they cannot interfere in the war. Alone, she goes face Rupehu, who rides towards the Fairy World, with his army and prisoners: the King, the Prince and Princess, Arum, Hamza, and now also Maya and the kids' father. As Rupehu approaches his goal of using the Princess Himanshi to lift the protection wall and attack Star World, Ellie comes to defy him. The Prince's Wife, who now knows Ellie was telling the truth, tries to change her mind, but when Rupehu confesses to having killed Ellie's mother and grandfather, Ellie returns to face him. Ellie is joined by warriors of all Kingdoms, who can come together to fight against Rupehu. The battle is epic, the prisoners escape, though the King is every injured. The Seven Saints finally decide to join Ellie's side and explain the Prophecy about Rupehu's death. Ellie realizes she is the one who needs to kill him, but they still don't know where to find the right weapon. Orin, the unicorn, reveals the weapon is his horn, so they remove it so Ellie can kill Rupehu. With the help of her grandmother and the Prince's Wife, Ellie gains wings and flies to face Rupehu in his dragon form. She's able to destroy him and restore peace to the Star World. All the Kingdoms honor Ellie as their savior; the King, upon the sight of his family reunited and Rupehu destroyed, passes away, giving his throne to his son. Ellie, Arum, the grandmother, Maya, and the father return to Earth to live their lives, now united as a family. Knowing the truth about her origins, Ellie visits the Fairy Kingdom frequently.

About The Author

Gagan Saini, the bestselling author of 'The Jugni,' brings to the readers the pre-teen fantasy tale 'Ellie and The Orin Prophecy,' a fantastic story about a girl who saves the universe with her unicorn.