Much intrigue and adventure in this story with a 17th century setting. Filippo has never met his father, a jeweler who set out on a business trip and never returned. The family is feeling threatened by the greedy Bernardo Pagliarin, its designated guardian while Geronimo Veroneo has been gone. A shadowy stranger visits and informs the family that Geronimo is still alive and imprisoned in Hindustan. A hefty ransom will free him. Filiipo is designated as the one to find his father and he takes a precious diamond, the Ocean of the Moon, to secure the ransom. He is accompanied by the stranger, the Mussulman, and in their lengthy, harsh journey, Filippo isn't sure whether he can trust the Mussulman or anyone else.

Filippo's father doesn't know he exists. He was born 8 months after Geromino Veraneo left on a journey to Hindustan, and hasn't been seen since. However, Filippo has often been visited by his father's presence, and it is to him the task of rescuing his father falls when it is discovered he is being held ransom by an Afgan warlord.

But there are other people after the Blood Stone, the one item the family has that will secure his father's release, and Filippo must travel across seas and deserts in his attempt to free the father he has never met.

This was a YA novel set in the 15th century and spanning from Venice to the mountains and bleakness of Afganistan, and stopping off in the courts of Hindustan and visiting the man who built the Taj Mahal on the way.

The writing was reasonable, with some nice language and descriptions, but unfortunately I never felt connected with the characters, their mission or their troubles and because I wasn't emotionally invested, the story dragged at times. There was also some mysticism and fantasy involved which just felt weird to me, and the switching from first to third person left the whole book very disjointed.

A YA historical fiction with colour but no taste ( )