Celeste Express 1: The War of the Wurms

By Alexander Slater

Reviewed by Annaleise Byrd

Alexander Slater is a British author, artist, animator and TikToker. His debut middle grade novel, Celeste Express: The War of the Wurms, is a highly illustrated cosmic fantasy.

Nine-year-old Celeste is a spoiled, bratty princess who celebrates her birthday twice a week due to a quirk of the galaxy she inhabits. She lives with her older brother Percy and her father, the king; her mother was “lost” when Celeste was very young. (Her mother’s actual fate is unclear; perhaps this will be dealt with in the sequels.) However, when Celeste ruins Percy’s birthday party, her father banishes her to another planet and tasks her with resurrecting the defunct Intergalactic Post Office. Thus begins Celeste’s journey of becoming less entitled, learning to be kind and finding her own place in the galaxy.

It soon became clear to this adult reader that objects and ideas in the Kingdom of Galaxandria are metaphors for our own society. For example, Wurms are glass spheres containing swirling green vortexes; everyone owns one and can send and receive messages through them (though no one can explain how they work). Meanwhile, the child owner of the Wurm Network – the story’s power-hungry villain – engages in conduct unsurprising to any reader old enough to understand the parallels being made with Big Tech. I’m not sure whether a child reader would make these connections, but it would be an interesting conversation to have after they read this book.

The world-building is relatively complex for an illustrated novel at this level. There are planets, portals, a magic school, a postal service, royalty, humans with magical abilities, goblins, clothes that can make the wearer fly, transport via flying umbrella and shape-shifting dust bunnies! However, the black and white anime-style illustrations, done by the author and found on every spread, should help maintain the young reader’s interest. A clever feature of the book’s design is that the pages are black (with text and illustrations in white) when the characters are inside the space-like nothingness of the Wurm Network.

Children who enjoy the fantastical elements in this story could then be introduced to Wed Wabbit by Lissa Evans, Wishyouwas by Alexandra Page and the Nevermoor series (Jessica Townsend).

Penguin 2025

Alexander Slater

Annaleise Byrd is the author of middle grade portal fantasies Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole, and the picture book You Are Not a Pup!