The Secrets of Droon 9 – The Tower of the Elf King

Tony Abbott's The Tower of the Elf King is a funny Droon adventure for 7 year olds about a three-eyed, fire-breathing monster who's been stealing the Lumpies' treasure.

What happens

It starts with a very strange dream. Eric wakes up and draws a face with three angry red eyes. Julie dreamed of a mouth full of fire. Neal dreamed of a pig nose with three nostrils (he builds it out of chocolate chip cookies, then eats the evidence).

When all three of them dream about Droon, it means they're needed. So down the staircase they go.

Lord Sparr hasn't been seen for nearly a whole moon, which should be good news. Then Khan, the purple, pillow-shaped king of the Lumpies, comes staggering into the city. A monster has robbed his entire village. Jewels, streetlamps, pots and pans and his crown.

The chase across the desert is brilliant. Khan tracks the thief by sniffing one of its scales. Eric rolls down a sand dune straight into the tent of a Ninn mum, who hides him from a grumpy Ninn warrior and sends him off with a bag of meatballs.

Then along comes Friddle, a tiny inventor in silver spectacles, driving something between a steam train and a parade float. He knows a surprising amount about Keeah's harp and her mother.

It's silly in exactly the right way. The monster's "ruthless and terrible" elves attack with palm leaves. One of the big fights is won with spoons and meatballs. Who knew those could be weapons?

There's a lovely thread for Princess Keeah as well. She's been searching for her mother, who's under a spell, and in this book she finally gets a clue.

It follows on from The Golden Wasp, but there's enough catching up at the start for a new reader to jump in.

Nothing here is very scary. There's a monster, a wobbly tower and a lot of fire-breathing, but it's more giggles than shivers.

For a reader who likes a quest with a joke on every page, this is a good one.

What to read next

If they like the way the kids' dreams call them back to Droon, Journey to the Volcano Palace opens the same way, with Eric waking up tangled in his bedsheet after a nightmare about Sparr.