The warrior in my wardrobe by Simon Farnaby. Illus. by Claire Powell

‘Magic should have brought joy to their life, instead it had brought trouble and strife.’

This is the second Misadventures of Merdyn the Wild story, following The wizard in my shed published October 2020.

Author Simon Farnaby is a writer and actor who is well-known to anyone who has seen Horrible Histories on TV – he plays Death in the ‘Stupid Deaths’ segment as well as multiple other historical characters. In his first book series he very cleverly manages to educate and impart moral lessons while being thoroughly entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny.

The new instalment starts a year after the events of book one and, for those who haven’t read the first book, contains enough context to easily understand what has happened and who is who.

This fast-paced tale centres on Rose and Kris, siblings who are descendants of wizard Merdyn. Unfortunately, discovering they have magical W-blood has increased the stakes of their sibling rivalry. But suddenly they must go back in time to 521 AD and work together to face Merdyn’s enemies. Along for the ride are Rose’s talking guinea pig, Bubbles (hilariously obsessed with poo), a boy-king called Arthur (who has a fantastic sword) and young Vandal, Vanhessa (who is trying to figure out right from wrong).

The fictional story with twists and turns is liberally supplemented with factual footnotes explaining Olde English terminology as well as customs. It is easy to imagine the Horrible Histories rat popping up at the bottom of the page to deliver these facts!

The morals of the story are neatly woven in without being preachy. Themes of love, family relationships and learning from your elders are explored, while discussion about women’s place in society and what makes a person ‘good’ vs being a ‘baddie’ are also included.

The presentation of this book is very appealing to young readers - a bright neon-orange cover, bold fonts for magic spell wording, rhyming summaries at the end of each chapter, and detailed cartoony illustrations throughout. I absolutely loved this book and, with a to-be-continued feel at the end, am excited to see what the W-bloods might do next!

Themes: Magic, Adventure, History, Family, Love, Relationships.

Kylie Grant