I’ve finished reading my fourth novel for 2021, Charlie Bone, and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo. Having grabbed this book in one of my visits to a recent book fair, the slight glimmer on the cover drew me in. I was curious too, as I’ve noticed other titles in the series in second-hand bookstores in the past and wondered what the books were about. I always need to read as much material as I can in my genre of middle grade, so won by the shimmery cover, I picked up Charlie Bone and the Hidden King. It’s hard to resist a little bling.
This was the fifth instalment in Jenny Nimmo’s Children of the Red King fantasy series, which follows the adventures of Charlie Bone. As a child of the Red King, he is one of ‘the endowed,’ Charlie Bone can travel into pictures and photographs, and he uses a magic wand. In The Hidden King, the story starts with a nasty snowstorm and all the animals in town disappearing. Charlie’s friend, Benjamin Brown, desperately wants his dog, Runner Bean, back, and he enlists Charlie’s help. Although Benjamin’s parents are working as spies at Bloor’s Academy, the special school for the endowed, Charlie agrees to help Benjamin, anyway. But our beleaguered hero also has other problems. They have frozen his grandmother Maisie, and he and his Uncle Paton can’t break the spell. The three beautiful Flame Cats deliver a warning, ‘something ancient has awoken.’ Charlie discovers that the shadow escaped from the Red King’s portrait, and that it will do anything to keep him from finding his father.
Though he already has plenty to worry about, the Flame Cats tells Charlie that his mother is also in danger. Sadly, Amy Bone falls under the spell of the strange Hart Noble. Charlie realizes Amy loves Hart Nobel, and that she is forgetting his father ever existed. If Charlie is to find his father, he will need to do so before his mother forgets him totally. Charlie must team up with his friends again, including his new friend, Naren Bloor, to uncover the truth and finally find his father so he can make things right again.
This novel obviously has a decent premise for a fantasy sci-fi tale for young readers. Nimmo seems a capable enough storyteller. She answers all the questions raised. Bone himself is likeable enough for a protagonist. It’s a reasonable light read for a child. Why was I underwhelmed?
There were several ways in which this book fell short of the mark for me. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, without depth or any form of development as the story progresses. Charlie Bone seems like a substantial lead, but it’s disappointing because we’re never allowed to get to know him. The head-hopping grates maybe expressly because it keeps us at arm’s length from the cast. To jump from point of view to point of view is giddy-making. Also, the style of writing is old-fashioned, as is fitting I guess. However, as a book reviewer and critique group member, I wanted to say ‘show, don’t tell.’ The old-fashioned technique where the author tells chunks of the story with exposition has fallen out of favour these days.
It’s not all bad. It’s cool the way Charlie Bone’s wand has become a moth in this story, and I loved Naren Bloor’s ability to send ‘shadow writing.’ I also liked the twist at the end. In conclusion, I found Charlie Bone, and the Hidden King good, but not great.
A prodigious author, Jenny Nimmo was born in 1944, in Berkshire, England and educated at boarding schools in Kent and Surrey. She left school to become a drama student/assistant stage manager with Theater South East. Her subsequent work with the BBC led her through a colourful career as a photographic researcher, then floor manager, working mainly on the news, and finally director/editor on the children’s program Jackanory. Jenny left the BBC in 1975 to marry a Welsh artist David Wynn Millward and went to live in Wales in her husband’s family home. When her first child was born, Jenny published her debut novel The Bronze Trumpeter at the same time. Now an author of many books, Jenny is best known for The Snow Spider trilogy and the Charlie Bone stories. Despite dividing fans at first with the series, the Children of the Red King books became very popular and still continue to sell well.
My rating: Two stars.
Talk to you later.
Keep creating!
Yvette Carol
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It was a golden autumn and leaves fell about them like bright coins. ~ Charlie Bone and the Hidden King
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