Welcome back to the Land of Roar – once a figment of the imaginations of a much younger Rose and Arthur’s imaginations, but now a real place accessed through their grandfather’s loft.  After their last adventure, the twins thought they’d banished Roar’s worst villain for good – but perhaps that isn’t actually the case….

You can listen to me chat with Jenny about ‘The Land of Roar’ on my podcast HERE.

Rose and Arthur have settled into life at their new school – Rose has a new gaggle of friends who like to do everything alike to show how attuned they are, Arthur has just one very best friend (besides Rose and the inhabitants of Roar.)  Something they both still have in common is their impatience to get to their grandad’s house for half term to dive straight back into another awesome adventure in their not-so-imaginary kingdom.

However, upon their return it soon becomes clear that they didn’t banish the wicked Crowky as far away as they’d hoped.  He’s back and he’s after ‘The Box’ in the hopes that it will reveal how he can make the journey back into Grandad’s attic and into the real world to wreak havoc.

Rose, Arthur and their friends in the land of Roar will need to muster up all their courage and journey to The End in a race to find The Box and thwart Crowky’s plans.

It felt so good to be back in the Land of Roar! If ever there was a testament to the power of a child’s imagination – this is it. You’ve got Wininja (a wizard-ninja), Mitch the tattooed mermaid, the Archie Playgo (archipelago), honey badger shipmates and an army of scarecrows. Phew! I loved seeing what creative characters and locations Jenny McLachlan had devised in this latest adventure. It felt even more magical than the first.

Another aspect which really pleased me was seeing that the two main characters, Rose and Arthur, had aged and matured with the passing of time between stories.  Rose in particular has turned into a typical tween – all about her friends, her phone and baking emoji cupcakes.  It was lovely to see that, despite all that, she wasn’t too grown-up enough to be above helping Arthur out with some imaginative ‘magic’ when the rescue of Roar required it.

A truly wonderful adventure to the furthest reaches of the imagination, filled with some unconventional magic and some unconventional characters.  I still stand by my assertion that Crowky is one of the most spine-chilling villains in recent middle grade fiction – not for those who are easily frightened! A must-read for fans of fantasy adventures aged 9+

Library Girl.

*Many thanks to Egmont Publishing for inviting me to be a part of this blog tour. Make sure you visit the other stops too*