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Title:
Curse of the Spider King
Series: The
Berinfell Prophecies #1
Author: Wayne Batson &
Christopher Hopper
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre:
Middle Grade Fantasy
Pages: 335
Words:
107K
After
how my last ya/middle grade book went (The
Beggar Queen by Lloyd Alexander) I was just about ready to
bag the whole idea of reading books geared toward the younger
audience. Before I called it quits I asked some of the kids at church
what they were reading. I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much.
But I ended up with a suggestion for the Berinfell Prophecies and
after reading the synopsis, I decided it certainly couldn’t be as
bad as the Beggar Queen. And it wasn’t, at all.
It IS more middle grade than young adult, as the main characters involved are all 13 year olds. There are also 7 of them. That concerned me a bit at first, because finding the right balance for points of view is hard and the more pov’s authors introduce, the harder the balance is to find. Thankfully, Batson and Hopper did an admirable job of giving each kid just the right amount of page time to tell the story they needed but without artificially giving more or less pages to each character.
Another thing that I liked, but wasn’t expecting, is that the authors are Christian and insert Christian elements into the story. No in a preachy way, but in many regards like Lewis does with his Chronicles of Narnia books. I only noticed it three or four times too, so it’s not like they are trying to drown their readers in it either.
This book is all about the gathering of the seven kids and how the elves were trying to get them all back to their original world. It had a good beginning, an exciting middle as all the kids had adventures and then the ending sees them all just crossing over. I am looking forward to the next book to see how things work out.
One final note. As this is middle grade, don’t expect any of the adults to be “actual” adults. They are adults per children’s views and act accordingly. Hence the “surprise” ambush near the end I saw coming from a mile away, but a kid wouldn’t, so the adults in the story didn’t.
★★★☆☆
From Fandom.com
Elves
ruled over the land of Allyra for thousands of years until, in a
great battle, the capital, Berinfell, was overtaken by an army
of Drefids, Gwar, Warspiders, and Wisps under the command of the
Spider King. Now as he rules the land, the remnant of the Elven race
lives, hidden, in a network of subterranean passages called Nightwish
Caverns.
In that battle, the seven heirs to the thrones of
Berinfell were captured as babies and taken to the realm of the
humans, known as Earth. Disguised among the millions of people on
Earth, these Elf Lords have no clue of their identity until, around
their thirteenth birthdays, some strange events start happening. Some
are stalked by mysterious, creepy strangers, and others receive odd
books from teachers, librarians, or bookstore owners. Eventually, the
people, who had given the Elves the books, reveal to the Seven Lords
their true identity, and the fact that they are being hunted by
villainous creatures. These assassins, once held back by an old
curse, are now free to kill the Seven. This they intend to do in
order to keep the teenagers from returning to Allyra and rallying the
Elves against their oppressor, the Spider King.
Autumn and
Johnny are attacked in their house by a pack of Drefids, Jett and his
family are assaulted by Cragons, and a Wisp of Jimmy's neighbor comes
to the boy's school and attempts to quietly kill Miss Finney. Kat and
Anna are pursued in a vicious car chase by Drefids, and Kiri Lee is
later almost assassinated by Wisps posing as her parents in her own
home. Tommy, Goldarrow and Mr. Charlie are forced to fight off
another group of Drefids in an abandoned asylum while attempting to
find a portal to Allyra.
In the final scene, all the Elven Lords
and their escorts (except Autumn, Johnny, and Nelly) have assembled
for a concert in Scotland before entering the nearby portal. In the
middle of the performance, attended by humans and disguised Elves
alike, a massive army of Gwar, Drefids, Cragons, and Wisps attack. In
the midst of the chaos, Johnny, Autumn and Nelly arrive. They join
the desperate rush of fighting Elves attempting to reach the portal.
When they arrive, it is rapidly shrinking. Unbeknownst to everyone
else, at the rear of the group Mr. Wallace is killed and replaced by
a Wisp. As the final few Elves are diving into the portal, the Wisp
kills Mr. Charlie and enters Allyra just before the doorway is
completely closed. Once in the Elven world, the returning group of
warriors are met by Grimwarden and a team of Elves, who assist the
Lords and their guardians into the Underground. Mr. Wallace's Wisp
accompanies them, a spy among their number.
