Lovely Tantalising Terror Tale.

I really liked this story - it is like a rich fruit cake - absolutely packed with tasty bits. Bex Hogan has a vivid imagination, especially when it comes to names. The aristocratic Griffon, “Lord Errol of the First Battalion of Griffins” with his monocle - who does rather “go on a bit” - with his wounded pride is great fun. I won’t tell you about Snotkins - you will have to find out yourself. The tensions build relentlessly, storm, dark goose bumps, noises and smells pile up one on another so that you are glued to the page. Bronte has a good selection of friends and pets (but not pets as we would know them) to help her through the rigours of becoming a knight and the trials she has to undergo afterwards. She is given a Pronklet ( piglet) to ride - not a fierce boar as others have. Watch out for the gnomes scurrying around with arms full of clouds. Lots of great word images. There are no end of superb illustrations, in black and white, by Hannah McCaffery, too many to count, which are perfect in their depiction of people, monsters and places, really excellent. A really good story, but not a lot of it, the text is a point or two large, with double spacing between the lines. The book is a little let down by the poor quality of the paper used. The illustrations or the block capital letters, “bleed through” to the other side of the page. So, a very good story, not too long, well illustrated, but rather let down by the poor quality as a book, but I would still buy it.