The Secrets of Droon 22 – The Isle of Mists

Tony Abbott's The Isle of Mists is a Droon adventure for 7 year olds about three friends chasing a wicked sorcerer to a legendary island.

What happens

Eric, Julie and Neal have a secret staircase in Eric's basement. It leads to Droon, a world of magic, strange creatures and a princess wizard called Keeah.

By this point in the series they've changed a bit too. Eric's fingers shoot silver sparks (sometimes when he really doesn't want them to). Julie can fly. So the opening scene has the two of them squashed in the school supply cupboard, trying not to be spotted!

Then a flying ship with a dragon's head crash-lands on the school roof. At the wheel is Salamandra, a thorn-haired princess who's usually their enemy. She's come to warn them about blue fog, eerie howling and a brand-new kind of magic rising in Droon.

The wicked Lord Sparr has all three of his powerful treasures at last. And now he wants the ship, because legend says it knows the way to the Isle of Mists.

Things get very odd, very fast. A blue fog has made Keeah three years old again. King Zello wakes up without his beard! Sparr's two-headed dog is on the trail of the ship.

It's a proper chase from there. The friends catapult themselves onto the flying ship using a giant string of stretchy cheese. They zoom after Sparr on fireworks. There's even a giant spider-like beast in the mist.

Neal is probably the best bit. He cracks a joke in almost every scary moment, like telling Salamandra she doesn't need more magic, she needs a comb.

It's packed with sound effects (Whooom! Ploing! Zzzzzt!), which makes it super readable for a newly confident reader. Just be aware there are some creepy moments, like a ruined palace, a spider beast and a sorcerer who's genuinely menacing.

It does help to know the gang already, as it's well into the series and there's a lot of history between everyone. That said, Eric sums up the story so far quickly in the first chapter.

What to read next

If this is their first trip to Droon, start with The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet. It's the day Eric is made to clean out the messy side of his basement, and Julie's soccer ball rolls under the stairs and finds a door.