The Secrets of Droon 30 – Escape from Jabar-Loo

Tony Abbott's Escape From Jabar-Loo is a fast, funny fantasy adventure for 7 year olds about three friends trying to rescue a king and queen from a forest where nothing is quite what it seems.

What happens

Eric, Neal and Julie found the magical land of Droon through a secret staircase in Eric's basement. By this point in the series they've been going for a while. They've each got powers now. Eric shoots silver sparks, Julie can fly and Neal has turned out to be a genie (who mostly uses it to rescue pancakes).

Their friend Princess Keeah's parents have been shipwrecked in Jabar-Loo, a dark forest full of old temples and strange magic. The wizard Galen and Max the spider troll went after them and haven't come back. So the friends are called back to Droon to help.

They get there on a giant magic wave, which smashes their boat to bits. Things go on in much the same way.

The best bit for young readers is probably Neal. To get Eric inside the walled city, Neal sells him to two dodgy traders. For a nickel! Eric is supposed to play a strange instrument called a splangle for the evil Prince Umberto, who puts people on a pole for playing one wrong note. The trouble is, nobody can play a splangle.

There are proper shivers too. A giant spider called Glok the Merciless is brought out to scare Eric, and when Eric looks into its eyes he recognises a friend. Umberto is using magic medallions to turn people into monsters.

It moves really quickly, with short scenes and lots of sound effects (Zzzt! Whammm! Fooom!). The jokes turn up right in the scary moments, which takes the edge off. There's also a mystery running underneath it all about Eric's secret vision that smells of apples.

Silly and a little bit spooky is exactly the mix here, so it's a good fit if that's what your reader likes. Because it sits later in the series, a child new to Droon might want to start somewhere earlier, though it does fill you in as it goes.

What to read next

A good place to see where Eric's powers took off is In the Ice Caves of Krog, where his sparks first turn silver and a monster is burning villages in the frozen north.