Castle of Shadows

Review also includes: City of Thieves, 978-1408304464

Two must-have reads if you want to promote positive female roles in children’s fiction. The heroine of both novels, Princess (later Queen) Charlotte (Charlie) is no pink and fluffy stereotype. Her mother is a brilliant weapons scientist and they are surrounded by a support sisterhood of strong young women, some of whom are revolutionary. The men tend towards the thuggish, manipulative, sinister or downright stupid, except perhaps the King, who has been driven mad, and Tobias, who is an adept liar and consummate safe-cracker with a conscience.

In book one Charlie and Toby take on the evil, duplicitous Prime Minister Alistair Windlass and his cronies to find the much missed Queen Caroline and save the kingdom from a cataclysmic war. The situation continues in book two, with Charlie now Queen, her mother back in her lab and Windlass on the run. Toby’s imprisonment by his Mafia-like relatives becomes centre stage and powers the plot to its cliffhanger end.

The setting is a kind of fantasy kingdom in an unspecified period but the motivations of the characters and the challenges, both physical and spiritual, that they face are very much of our own time and place. Loyalty and responsibility are key themes and both young principals are sorely tested on that score throughout both tales.

Here are two original and absorbing mystery tales that are craftily written to keep the reader guessing and the pages turning. They are very readable but not for those who aren’t prepared to work at it a bit!