The Secret Kingdom

Jenny Nimmo (author)

Random House, UK: Australian release May 2011

ISBN: 9781742751986

Genres: adventure, fantasy

Issues: family, friendship, trust, values

Timoken and his sister, Zobayda, live in a secret kingdom that is 'hidden from the world by a forest as wide and deep as a sea.' (p1) But the kingdom is in terrible danger from the evil Viridee, destructive, shape-changing sorcerers who hunt the last cloak of the moon spider, given to Timoken by the last of the race of forest-jinni.

Forced into perpetual exile, searching constantly for a place to call home, Timoken and Zobayda grow into their gifts and an understanding of themselves and each other – but they have no family, no friends and no home. Only by facing the evil that pursues him will Timoken be able to find peace for himself and his sister.

Jenny Nimmo (The Snow Spider trilogy, the Charlie Bone series) is an imaginative writer who has an ability to craft a plausible narrative filled with wonders and magic. Timoken can speak to animals, conjure rain from an empty sky and fly without wings. His best friend is a camel and he has three magic leopards to protect him. In Nimmo's writing this all seems very real, very believable; her characters seem to be people you might bump into in the next village, or have just missed when you were visiting a friend.

Somewhat slow-moving at times, this is, nevertheless, a charming story, giving backstory for those who have read the Charlie Bone series.