  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 09/01/2011 Gr 4–6—Charlie Bone returns to introduce the story of his magical ancestor, Timoken the Red King. Born under the cloud of his mother's overwhelming sense of foreboding, Timoken finds protection and magic in three gifts given to his mother by a mysterious forest jinni: the web of the last moon spider, a magic ring, and the Alixir of youth. The powerful web does protect him, but it also invites danger, setting in motion events that will define his life. Readers will be instantly drawn into the author's captivating and thrilling tale of magic and adventure. Timoken's story takes flight after his kingdom is destroyed by viridees, wicked sorcerers who want the moon spider's web. He's forced to travel the world in search of a "New Kingdom," but what readers will soon understand is that he is really searching for a home and all that it symbolizes. The protagonist is a kind and thoughtful hero who engenders respect and loyalty in those he meets. This is evidenced in his relationship with his camel, Gabar, and the ragtag group of children they rescue from slave traders. They, along with Timoken's sister, Zobayda, explore the meaning of friendship and family. And it is this recurring theme that drives the story. Charlie Bone fans can rest easy knowing that Nimmo does not disappoint as she spins her magical web in this well-paced and expertly crafted tale.—Mary Beth Rassulo, Ridgefield Library, CT - Copyright 2011 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 10/01/2011 Nimmo begins a new series related to the Children of the Red King series (aka the Charlie Bone series) but with a fresh setting, a different time period, and a new cast. In the prologue, 13-year-old Charlie Bone recalls helping his uncle research their illustrious thirteenth-century ancestor, the Red King, by traveling to Africa and magically communicating with the king when he was a boy. Charlie fades from the novel almost entirely, for the Chronicles of the Red King series purportedly offers his uncle’s books on Timoken, the boy king himself. After his family’s African kingdom is invaded by evil spirits called viridees and his parents are murdered, Prince Timoken becomes a king with no kingdom. Timoken, his sister, and his camel have hair-raising escapes from the viridees, who pursue them in hopes of capturing certain magical objects of great power. Nimmo pulls out all the stops, creating three main characters with distinct personalities and placing them in an action-packed fantasy with drama, tension, and welcome bits of humor. - Copyright 2011 Booklist. Bulletin for the Center... - 11/01/2011 Nimmo, author of the Charlie Bone series (Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy, BCCB 9/04, etc.), returns here to provide the backstory to the legend that will shape most of Charlie Bone’s future. Long ago, the idyllic peace of a faraway secret kingdom was shattered when the evil Lord Degal invaded with his army of the monstrous viridees. Knowing that her children would be protected by the gifts bestowed upon them by a forest-jinni at birth, the queen forced her son Timoken, the future Red King, and his sister Zobayda to flee the palace, telling them both of their supernatural powers. Kept in a state of perpetual childhood by a magical elixir, the siblings spend the next two hundred years narrowly escaping the viridees as they are hunted across much of Africa. Zobayda is caught, but Timoken continues in his travels, coming into his powers as a magician and meeting people who will eventually set the stage for the battle between his descendants that will change Charlie Bone’s life. Knowledge of the other series isn’t necessary but would be helpful, as events in this book often have significance that is not always made entirely clear, although some hints are offered in the prologue narrated by Charlie Bone himself. As a stand-alone, however, this can be viewed as a series of linked fables, a structure that is matched by Nimmo’s folkloric tone and direct language. The world is richly developed, and the magical creatures therein are both fascinating and frightening. Timoken is a noble, likable hero, and readers who are unfamiliar with his successor’s adventures will most likely be compelled to check out Charlie Bone until the Red King returns in the next installment of this series. KQG - Copyright 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
 |