Free Lance and the Lake of Skulls - Hardcover

Paul Stewart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340874090 ISBN 13: 9780340874097

Publisher: Hodder Children's Books, 2004

Synopsis

Free Lance is down on his luck and stuck in the Badlands. And as usual there is an oaf who wants to take him on. But that fight leads to a job offer which has enough gold attached to it to get him out of this hole: the local lord wants him to recover an enchanted crown from the middle of the lake of skulls. Of course he omits to tell Free Lance of the terrors that await. Full of drama and humour, this swashbuckling fantasy adventure introduces a marvellous new hero by two of the leading exponents of the genre with an action hero who is both charismatic and mysterious, and told in a laconic, Marlowesque first person narrative. Certain to be enjoyed by all readers of THE EDGE CHRONICLES and Terry Pratchett, and those aspiring to read them. Part of a unique range of books aimed at 11+s that through integration of text and illustration are also accessible to those with reading abilities of as young as 8, produced in consultation with literacy consultant Wendy Cooling.

About this title

About the Author:

PAUL STEWART is the author of many books for children and with Chris Riddell is the creator of the hugely successful EDGE CHRONICLES series. He lives in Brighton with his wife and two children. CHRIS RIDDELL is the Kate Greenaway Medal winning illustrator of a broad range of highly successful books for children. With author Paul Stewart he is the creator of the best-selling fantasy series THE EDGE CHRONICLES. He has been the political cartoonist for THE OBSERVER newspaper since 1995. With his wife and two children he lives in Brighton.

Review:

Suitable for pupils of 11 years up ... written to appeal to less able readers ... Funny with a good line in irony ... There are some hefty examples of similes to appeal to the English teacher. The premise of the story and the settings are really clearly described and illustrated so that the reader willl have a good picture of the situations in his head. ... an engrossing story for this age group ... it is likely that having read this one readers will be looking for more. * School Librarian * Owes a lot to Beowulf and more to pulp fiction: close scrapes with monsters and villains, wisecracks, double and triple crossings and plenty of Tarantinoid violence. The language has the easy clarity of a Paul Jennngs story with a similar wealth of episode ... The energy of Riddell's line drawings matches the hectic pace of the storytelling. One for the lads? All the females are villainous and most end up dead, so it should go down well amongst some of them at least. * Books for Keeps * Raymond Chandler goes to Camelot ... Narrated in a hard-bitten, sardonic voice ... aimed at children of 10 upwards whose reading ability is some way behind their chronological age, but it could be equally enjoyed by word-savvy eight and nine-year-olds. * TES * This is one knight who survives not just by being heroic - a pile of skulls is testimony to those who've tried this - but on his own wits. * Waterstones Books Quarterly * Thrill-a-minute quests that are fraught with danger. They may be short on words but these great little books are jam-packed with excitement and double-dealing thrills. * Sunday Times *

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0340874090
• ISBN 13: 9780340874097
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 125
• Illustrator: Chris Riddell