Charlie Bone And The Red King

Title : Charlie Bone And The Red King (The Children of The Red King #8)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 423

Publisher : Egmont Books

The war was unavoidable. Children of the Red King versus Count Harken army.

In Badlock, Count Harken was waiting, waiting impatiently, but Mirror Amoret could not be fixed. He was angry and he throw all his tantrums to Billy. Billy was imprisoned in the dark dungeon underground.

  

Dagbert Endless seemed to change sides. He didn't trust Bloors anymore after he found out that the Bloors liked his father who wanted to kill him. He searched for help from Charlie. He wanted Charlie to destroy his father's source of power, the water globe which could control all oceans in the world. At first, Charlie didn't want to help Dagbert. But when the Bloors planned to drown his parents who were in the sea using that water globe, he had to come forward.

Olivia had been enchanted by the magic robe. She wore the robe everyday and that made her cruel and bad. Charlie and Emma tried to solve this problem. They asked Olivia's guardian to sew the exact robe so that Emma could switch the wicked robe.

With so many thing to be done, Charlie almost forgot about Billy. He once again traveled into Badlock to bring Billy back. However, little did he know that Count Harken had deliberately planned to follow Charlie to the future. The Count came to the future in the form of a fly.

Count Harken called all his followers and built his army. And the war began.

Well, I should say that I am very biased if it comes to the last book of the series. I tend to like the last book in any series. For Charlie Bone, it's not different.

This last installment is the thickest of all. More conflicts, unexpected scenes, and hidden mysteries. As children, I would like this series very much. But, I'm not 10 years old. I have read too many books and that's why I couldn't like this book that much. I could guess all the mysteries precisely and all the surprises were not surprises anymore.

But, I still enjoyed it though. All characters are likable. And I like the ending. Bloors Academy became Bone Academy and Billy was adopted as Charlie's little brother. All ended well and I was happy for that.

The Children of The Red King series:
1. Midnight for Charlie Bone
2. Charlie Bone And The Time Twister
3. Charlie Bone And The Blue Boa
4. Charlie Bone And The Castle of Mirrors
5. Charlie Bone And The Hidden King
6. Charlie Bone And The Wilderness Wolf
7. Charlie Bone And The Shadow of Badlock
8. Charlie Bone And The Red King

At last, I finished one whole series :)

4/5

Charlie Bone And The Shadow of Badlock

Title : Charlie Bone And the Shadow of Badlock (The Children of The Red King #7)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 373

Publisher : Egmont Books

Another annoying trick from the Bloors and the Yewbeams sisters... Why oh why were you all so bad toward Charlie Bone? For God's sake, he was only twelve.

Titania Tilpin, the descendant of Count Harken the Shadow tried to mend the broken Amoret mirror. She wanted to help the Count bringing the city back into the past so that he could have the power once more. 

Grandma Bone was given the painting of Badlock. Badlock was a place where the Count ruled in the past. Since Charlie could travel through the paintings and photos, Grandma Bone deliberately put the painting in their house.

Charlie got inside and met his ancestor, Otus Yewbeam who was being prisoned by the Count. This gloomy and dark city made Charlie shivered. He wanted to go back, taking his ancestor too so that the old man wouldn't need to suffer anymore. However, he failed. Otus didn't come with him and Runner Bean, Benjamin's dog got inside the painting. 

What a chaos...

All of those had been considered by the Bloors and Titania Tilpin. They knew that the only one who could save Runner Bean was Billy who could talk to animals. They wanted to get rid of Billy because Billy was the true heir of Bloor Academy and all the fortunes of Septimus Bloor. 

Charlie didn't know about that plan. He asked Billy to help him and at the end Billy was trapped inside the painting just like the Bloors wanted. Charlie tried to save Billy, but Billy didn't want to come out since he had been enchanted by the Count's magic.

And... someone was dead. He was my favorite character in this series. T.T

It was unbelivable. How could a grandmother harm his grandson? I still couldn't accept it. Charlie was so pitiful to have many problems caused by his own grandmothers and relatives.

The story was getting complicated now that all characters were mentioned. I liked Charlie Bone for he was brave, full of compassion, and dependable. He could just walk away and abandon Billy but he didn't. He was also very patient. If I were him, I would have killed my own grandmother (hahaha... I'm really that bad, huh?)

Of course, it is children book. No sad ending, I think. My favorite character who was supposed to be dead was not dead after all. Kyaaaaa...

One more to go...

3/5

Charlie Bone And The Wilderness Wolf

Title : Charlie Bone And The Wilderness Wolf (The Children of The Red King #6)

 Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 359

Publisher : Egmont Books

Now that his father had come back, Charlie had to lose him again because his parents went honeymoon. Charlie felt sad but couldn't do anything. 

On the other hand, the full hatred of Ezekiel Bloor hated Charlie more and more. He didn't like seeing Charlie happy. He recruited new student, Dagbert "The Drowner" Endless who could control water to disturb Charlie's lives.

Moreover, something made Billy nervous. Every night he heard wolf howling and asking for help. He told Charlie hoping that Charlie could solve the mysteries.

So, once again Charlie was involved in the dangerous adventure. He investigated about the wolf living in the wilderness forest and also tried to fight the bad deeds of Dagbert.

Honestly, this sixth installment was not interesting. The conflicts were messy, jumping from one thing to another. It made me confused. I don't even know what the importance of the wolf was. The wolf needed to be rescued, then what? The other problems were not solved at all. Maybe the writer tried to tell me that there would be more in the next book, but I still think that nothing happened in this book except showing more problems and mysteries.

Anyway, I still love the characters though. Especially Tancred. Kyaaaa!!! I like stormy boy (feel like pedophil =.=). 

2/5

Charlie Bone And The Hidden King

Title : Charlie Bone And The Hidden King (The Children of The Red King #5)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 366

Publisher : Egmont Books

The story was getting complicated. Now that almost all ancestors of the children were mentioned, the story told about the past and the connection between all children.

Charlie Bone woke up and found that all animals in the city were lost. He was blamed for the disappearance but Charlie believed that it was the deed of Ezekiel Bloor.

He was wrong. 

Someone had released the shadow behind the picture of the Red King. He was an enchanter, Count Harken. This ancient man had once manipulated the original ten children of Red King and now he targeted Charlie's mother, Amy. With the mirror of Amoret (Charlie's ancestor), Count Harken wanted to bring Amy to the past. But if this happen, Amy would forget all about Charlie.

Charlie was frustrated seeing his mother forgetting him day by day. He also had to find the missing animals. Fortunately, he met Bartholomew Bloor who was supposed to be dead. From him, Charlie learnt about the presence of Red King as an immortal tree. Charlie knew that he should find this tree to ask for a help from his ancestor. However, he needed at least ten descendants of the Red King to make everything good again and it was almost impossible because more children were at Ezekiel Bloor's side (thanks to Joshua Tilpin's magnetic ability).

I like this book, I don't know why. It was heartwarming to read the connections between all descendants of the Red King. It was a friendship built from the same bloodline. I could feel the deep feeling between all of them although they just met each other. I felt sad when they were fighting and hating each other. I think I have already loved all the characters.   

At last, Charlie met his father in this book. And I was right all along. Charlie's father was... Find it yourself in this book.

Four stars. I think I have tendency to give better ratings to the latter book of the series. Haha...

4/5

Charlie Bone and The Castle of Mirrors

Title : Charlie Bone And The Castle of Mirrors (Children of The Red King #4)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 354

Publisher : Egmont Books 

The synopsis at the back of the book is quite funny : In a dark laboratory deep within Bloor's Academy, Manfred and Ezekiel are brewing up a very nasty kind of trouble for Charlie Bone. Hehehe...

Ezekiel wanted to resurrect his cruel ancestor, Borlath to defeat his enemies, including Charlie Bone. He prepared all the ingredients in his laboratory. But, Borlath ran away.

Meanwhile, Charlie had another problem. His friend, Olivia acted strange. He also had to rescue Billy who was trapped in his new parents' house, evil parents that Ezekiel asked to guard Billy. Furthermore, there was Joshua Tilpin, the new student who had magnetic ability. He helped Ezekiel controlling Charlie's friend, Tancred. It meant Tancred was on Ezekiel side now.

Losing friends one by one, the balance was lost. Charlie only had Emma, Lysander, and Fidelio to help him. 

This fourth book was full of unique things. The barrier in Billy's new house, the invisible ancestor wandering around the academy, and Olivia's talent. Seriously, her talent was so cool. She just needed to imagine things and everything would materialize. 

It's always interesting to read adventures. As the story continues, I get to know more about the characters and I like them all. There are things that make me laugh: Charlie's witty comments, Billy's conversation with animals, even the mean and annoying grandmother. 

Four more books... *sigh (so many...)

3/5

Charlie Bone And The Blue Boa

Title : Charlie Bone And The Blue Boa (Children of The Red King #3)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of page : 372

Publisher : Egmont Books

A boy was missing. His brother tried to find him but also vanished.

This time, Charlie got a new friend showing up in his house. Her name was Belle. She was beautiful but Charlie sensed something eerie about her. He didn't trust Belle although her own grandmother encouraged him to help Belle at Bloor's Academy. But, Charlie had learned that every people his grandmother liked were definitely considered as bad news.

However, Charlie could put aside the "Belle" problem momentarily. He got another mission. He had to find the missing boy who was kept hidden in the academy. And he had to face the big blue snake who guard the prisoner.

The key of this mission was Billy who could take to animals. But, Billy was on enemy side. Could Charlie trust him to help finding the boy? Or would Billy tell the old Ezekiel as he always did?

Well, I could see Charlie Bone story as a light and quick read. No emotion, just a story. Anyway, I laughed reading this third installment because many animals were involved. The part when Billy said that mice was boring because they only talked about how to make babies was cute. Billy also said that rat was more interesting because he found one who could tell jokes. I can't help wondering what I would find if I could to talk to animals like Billy.

Till next time...

3/5

Charlie Bone And The Time Twister

Title : Charlie Bone And The Time Twister (The Children of The Red King #2)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 374

Publisher : Egmont Books Ltd

Charlie Bone started his new term hoping that there wouldn't be any strange things happened in his life. However, one day he saw a boy emerging in front of him. It was Henry Yewbeam, his great grandfather's brother who was lost many years ago.

It was found that Henry had traveled through time using the time twister. Many years before he made his cousin, Ezekiel Bloor angry. Ezekiel or Zeke was the one who gave the time twister to Henry, deliberately sent his cousin away.

Now that Henry met Charlie, he became Charlie's friend. But, the old Ezekiel knew Henry was back. He wanted to kill Henry and Charlie had to save him.

Once again Charlie had to face his enemy. The Bloors might want to eliminate him also.

Ah, it's more interesting than the first book. Now I know that the evil old man in the first book was Ezekiel Bloor. And I was caught surprised because I didn't expect that Charlie and The Bloors shared the same ancestor. There's even a family tree in the early page which depicts the long and complicated relationships between Charlie and the original founder of Bloor's Academy.

I like the ending for Henry. The meeting between him and his brother, James who was Charlie's great grandfather was quite touching. 

And by the way I still hate Grandma Bone and his sisters. I wanted to send thunderstorm to them, like Tancred did. How could they be so mean to their own grandson? Grr...

The writing is still unlikable, lack of descriptions here and there. But I think I am growing used to it, so it's okay.

3/5

Midnight For Charlie Bone

Title : Midnight For Charlie Bone (The Children of The Red King #1)

Writer : Jenny Nimmo

Number of Page : 346

Publisher : Egmont Books Ltd

I encountered Charlie Bone for the first time when my mother bought very cheap books in a garage sale years ago. I wanted to read them at that time, but the problem was that she didn't buy the first book. I was curious because she said that Charlie Bone was as good as Harry Potter. However, I soon forgot about the books. 

Then, last month my sister told me that she saw cheap book sets in a bookstore. It was Charlie Bone, of course. She wanted to buy but she knew that she would not have time to read. So, I offered to read them and would tell her the stories afterward. And she bought the books with her money. *happy evil wink (muhahaha...)

Now come the review...

Charlie Bone was an ordinary boy who lived with his two grandmothers and her mother. He had best friend named Benjamin who was also his neighbour.

One day when he saw a strange photo he heard the sounds from it, some mysterious conversations about a lost baby. He tried to hide his ability but one of her grandmother knew it. She forced him to go to Bloor's Academy where the other specials like him studying. 

In Bloor's Academy, Charlie belonged to blue group, music students. There were green for drama and purple for arts. He stayed in the dormitory and met new friends. I think it's a bit like Hogwarts without magic. 

Charlie had to adapt with his new life and also the danger that suddenly surrounded him. And it all started with only a single strange photo!

So, Charlie and his friends had to investigate about the photo subjects and stay out from the bad people who targeted them. What did they find out at the end?

First of all, I should say that you cannot compare it to Harry Potter because Charlie Bone was meant for children. The plots are simple, the dialogs are more childish, the mysteries are not as deep as Harry Potter. Both are very different.

Charlie Bone gave me chills and dark feeling because all people around him were all strange and suspicious. Even his grandmother, his uncle, and his friends. It seemed that the only normal people were Charlie, her mother, and Benjamin's dog. Furthermore, I could not even guess what would happen next because all characters seemed suspicious. It was both good and bad. Good because the story was unpredictable, bad because I didn't like the characters. They were all freaks and creepy. But, that was just my opinion. The adventure and the mystery were actually not bad. It's just that this book was definitely not for me.

Moreover, the plots were quite to the point. Fast-paced actions without emotional conflicts. Not my type since I enjoy descriptions and deep feeling. 

Oh, I will still read the next installments. I was still curious about many things that were not solved in this book. And I had promised my sister to read it. Hehehe...

2/5