Knights of The Borrowed Dark
( Ages 11+)
By : Dave Rudden
Publisher : Penguin Random House - April.,2016
Irish author Dave Rudden in his "Knights of The Borrowed Dark", the first part of a fantasy adventure trilogy in the same name, proves himself to be an expert storyteller. Rudden strongly grasps his readers by his exceptional powers of imagination and marvels us with his skillful crafting ability; it is exhibited through the storyline, use of language,writing style,characters,their development and through many other aspects of his story. You`ll be caught on the first page itself and will not be released till the last!
Brave and fierce Denizen Hardwick and fearless Simon Hayes have known each other almost all of their lives. They have been raised at the Crosscaper Orphanage, since they were around 2 years of age. The lives of the two friends are completely changed with the arrival of a note from the director of the orphanage which read that Denizen's aunt- an aunt he never knew he had - has been in contact and that he will be taken away for few days, on his 13th birthday. And a deep-black mysterious car growls out through the open gates of Crosscaper with Denizen in the passenger seat.
He is pushed into another world that he never knew of, a world where a secret society of knights-the Knights of the Order of the Borrowed Dark- battle the evil forces of the Endless King who rules a kingdom in another dimension. The prospect of a terrifying war looms ahead, with the Endless King himself threatening to cross over to our world. The Knights must rally together to face this menace, while at the same time try to stop it before it starts. Denizen must play a key role in this endeavour, a role that will lead him to finally discover the truth about his parents, and start his own journey as a Knight of this secret order.
Meanwhile, Simon has to also fight for his survival, back at the orphanage; A group of Tenebrous, the evil creatures from the kingdom of the Endless King, have taken over and made everyone else at Crosscaper their prisoner. Simon has to use his knowledge of the orphanage, his own survival skills and powers that he never knew he had, to stay out the creatures' grasp.
An exciting tale of horror, heroism, loyalty, and friendship, where the author focuses on the view point of the two 13 year old boys as they try to stay alive and fight back. At the same time, they are trying to deal with the kind of conflicting emotions that readers of the same age can clearly identify with: Denizen finding himself attracted to Abigail, a young Knight-in-training, while initially being unsettled by her presence and his need for making his own decisions while also desiring the acceptance of his aunt.
The story keeps up a fast pace from the first chapter, and will be the kind of page-turner that will appeal to girls as well as boys .Followers of J.K Rowling and Rick Riordan are sure to fall for this. And the book promises to be the start of a highly successful series.
( With many thanks to Penguin random House and Net Galley for the ARC in return for a honest review)
RSS Feed
