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Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup by Zira Nauryzbai and Lilya Kalaus

Title: Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup

Author: Zira Nauryzbai and Lilya Kalaus

Translator: Shelley Fairweather-Vega

Illustrator:

Publisher: Amazon Crossing Kids

Date Published: 2023

Format: Hardback

Genre: Fantasy

Book Category: Fiction

Age Range: 12+

Original Title: First published in Russian by Almatykitap, Kazakhstan, 2014

Country of Origin: Kazakstan

Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup

by Zira Nauryzbai and Lilya Kalaus
Age Range: 12+

Set in contemporary Almaty, Kazakhstan, Batu is just an ordinary boy, worried about the bullies at school and the imminent arrival of his mum’s new baby. One afternoon while working on his notebook Batu, inadvertently summons Aspara, the Golden Warrior prince, a mythological figure from the ancient Saka people. Aspara has been waiting for hundreds of years to be summoned to the human world to enlist help in searching for the Golden Cup, an important magical talisman. With the help of a traditional Kazakh musical instrument known as a ‘dombyra,’ Aspara and Batu travel through time to another world to seek counsel from the wise Samruk, a giant bird, who lives at the top of Baiterek, the World Tree, however, their first mission is thwarted by Jeztyrnaq, a wild and fearsome woman with long talons.

Craving adventure and a sense of purpose, Batu, with the help of his friends, is determined to help Aspara in his search but as they begin to unravel The Golden Cup’s mysterious disappearance, they also discover that Jeztyrnaq is not the only enemy to fear. The school bully Scorpion and his sinister grandfather will stop at nothing to ensure their mission fails.

Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup is the debut novel and first in a series of exciting fantasy adventures by Kazakh authors Zira Nauryzbai and Lilya Kalaus, translated from Russian by Shelley Fairweather-Vega, which became a bestseller in Kazakhstan.

Using the clever juxtaposition of Batu’s contemporary life and the adventures within Kazakh myths it offers readers multiple layers of cultural details from ancient traditions to the sensorial descriptions of the smells of dishes such as bauyrsaq (fried dough treats) and shelpek (a traditional Kazakh flatbread) to the intricate patterns of traditional handwoven wool rugs.

Nauryzbai, as well as being an author of many books and a translator from Kazakh into Russian, is also a cultural anthropologist based in Astana, Kazakhstan. Kalaus is also a philologist, editor, scriptwriter, radio presenter, visual artist and creative writing teacher from Almaty, Kazakhstan.

There is an extensive glossary of Kazakh words at the back of the book as well as a detailed diagram of a dombrya.

A first book from Kazakhstan at Outside In World, this clever and exciting novel woven around Kazakh mythology and packed full of detail, is sure to have fantasy lovers hooked and waiting eagerly for the next title in the series.