book review: The Secret of the Swamp King

Title: The Secret of the Swamp King
Author: Jonathan Rogers
Publisher: Broadman & Holman
Genre: Juvenile Fiction; Action, Adventure, Fantasy
ISBN: 080543132-2

In this second book of the Wilderking Trilogy (review of the first book The Bark of the Bog Owl is here) author Jonathan Rogers reintroduces us to Aidan Errolson who has just spent two years serving King Darrow at Tambluff Castle. But all is not well. Aidan’s success at everything he does, plus Darrow’s suspicious nature has the king living under a cloud of jealousy. And so Darrow sends Aidan on a seemingly impossible quest to Feechiefen Swamp to find the cure for his melancholy.

Aidan’s journey into Feechiefen immerses us in an exotic setting. Here the Feechiefolk rule, and in them Rogers has created as curious and imaginative a race of fantasy people as one could hope to find. Aidan the civilizer must get along with them, though, because he needs the Feechies to help him navigate through the swamp. It soon becomes obvious that he will have more than Feechiefolk foibles to worry about, for someone is slaughtering birds for their plumes, and could it be traitorous Feechies who are shooting arrows made of cold-shiny at the travelers? Will he find what he is looking for? Will he even survive?

Rogers uses this trip through the changing swamp to address themes of ecology, the price of progress and what it means to be free as a civilization. Kids will also be able to relate to his treatment of jealousy as it is fleshed out in Darrow and several other characters. (Plus my favorite, Bayard the Truthspeaker, makes a cameo appearance to say some very wise things about grace.)

The book is written in a lively and entertaining style (with more rhymes, silly songs and lots of ickiness and mud), few breaks in the action and enough mysterious troubles popping up to keep you turning the pages from start to finish. For though the plot continues to be a retelling of the story of David and King Saul from the Bible, the story line is never predictable.

The tale of this book comes to a satisfying end – but not. For even though Aidan has done his best to please King Darrow, we know by the last page that things will never be the same at Tambluff Castle. Way of the Wilderking, the final book of the trilogy, is due out later this spring.

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Disclaimer: The book The Secret of the Swamp King was sent to me by Mind & Media as a gift from the publisher who donated the books for reviewers.

Filed in Book Reviews.