"This exuberant quest-to-return-home adventure reels with riddles and larger-than-life characters."
A joy to read aloud, with a droll, knowing voice that invites dramatic delivery, Mark Forsyth’s A Riddle for a King is a fabulously quirky treat for readers who relish the razzle of brain-bending riddles and the fizz of quest-driven adventures.
Philo lives with his punctuality-obsessed aunt and uncle and is going about his ordinary day when something quite extraordinary happens: “It’s not every day that a little creature looks out of a grandfather clock and asks you whether you’re the king”.
Looking “a bit like a giraffe, and a little like a human, and rather like an elephant, and almost exactly like a monkey, and very like a rabbit”, the besuited creature goes by the name of Mr Spronkel and has a confusing habit of speaking in Alice in Wonderland-esque absurdities.
In the weird world beyond the grandfather clock, Philo finds himself having to locate the Penguin Gate to reach the King in his Flying Castle if he’s to return home. Faced with countless conundrums, and encountering a giant named Og, the Bridge-Riddler and the Midnight Witch along his puzzling path, A Riddle for a King is riotously good fun, and thrilling to boot.
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This book is fantastic and had me hooked from start to finish. Very clever and great fun to read.
This book is fantastic and had me hooked from starts to finish. It's very cleverly done and just a great read. I love books that have riddles and couldn't put this one down. The chapters are short so was great for quick read before bed.... Read Full Review
An exciting adventure, filled with magic, fun, friendships, and weird and wonderful creatures! The story introduces readers to some brain-bendy puzzles and might just convince you that up is down and down is up . . .
Philo longs for freedom and adventure, and he most certainly gets it when he lands in the strangest of lands: a place where nothing makes sense, a place packed with riddles and paradoxes.
Will Philo ever make it home? Will he make sense of the conundrums that litter his path?
An addictive, delightfully bamboozling story sure to thrill and intrigue puzzle-loving readers.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed A Riddle for a King and determined it is suitable for children aged 9-12 years old
A Riddle for a King features in the following genres: Featured Books for 9+ readers, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Books of the Month, Books Reviewed by our Reader Review Panels, Recommendations, Adventure Stories, Fantasy / Magical, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational
A Riddle for a King is available in Paperback
A Riddle for a King was written by Mark Forsyth and published by David Fickling Books
A Riddle for a King has 244 pages
£7.19
