Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

More plot advancement than in previous volumes
- The same problems of inadequate character development, coherent motives, and deus ex machina that plague the previous volumes in this series

On the one hand, this is a better book that the three of four that came before it. On the other hand, it still demonstrates why J. K. Rowling has had such phenomenal success not just with children but with adult readers as well.

I'm very puzzled about why Charlie has made so little exploration and use of his endowment. He is possibly the most uninquisitive protagonist I've encountered in young adult literature. However, this dullness may be explained by his community's lack of curiosity--all the animals disappear and the only notice they make of this is show more that it must have something to do with those weirdos at Bloor's Academy? One hopes they'd be more interested in where fried chicken comes from when there are no chickens.

As usual, story events are largely picaresque, un-prepared for or clumsily foreshadowed, and inconsistent. "Charlie's old enemy, Damian (sic) Smerk" appears briefly (p. 171), but previous mention of Damien is so scant that even online concordances by Charlie Bone devotees have nothing to say about him. Ezekiel claims he can "rearrange history" using Charlie's endowment; why would this work if the time-twister didn't (oh, except it did, after we were told that it couldn't). Hidden under a table, Charlie sees "an upside-down face" appear as someone looks under the table. Try this at home and discover that it is impossible unless the person climbed over the table and, laying upon it, looked over the opposite side--hardly likely to happen covertly at a major formal dinner. "Count Harken," a bit-player who married the Red King's daughter, evokes Count Olaf. Why did Miss Chrystal disguise her relationship to Joshua Tilpin? Uncle Patton: Too dumb to cancel his gourmet food baskets? "Charlie, I forgot to tell you. Tolly Twelve Bells has been stolen" (p. 289). Finally! The return of a plot element--but nothing further comes of this. The Mirror of Amoret only works for children of the Red King. Oops, but no, it works for the enchanter because "he is an enchanter" (p. 294). Okay, glad we got that straightened out. "Oh, I forgot" a mysterious communication from Skarpo, says Charlie (p. 326). Bodyguards are too stupid to stop a young girl from entering the exclusive suite of a powerful enchanter (p. 359 ff.). "The spell!...Idiot that I am. I forgot it" says Patton (p. 386). The moral of this paragraph is that the world is inexplicable when run by persons of average intelligence.

The one [b:saving grace|130916|The Saving Graces A Novel|Patricia Gaffney|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171995451s/130916.jpg|126092] of this volume is the change of allegiance that occurs for one relatively important character. It inspires the only emotion I have experienced in this series to date.

In terms of printing issues, this book (in hardback, at least) does not have the misplaced preface about the Red King and his time-twister that appeared incorrectly in volumes 3 and 4. However, in the description of the series at the back of the book, it gives Henry Yewbeam's name as "Hart," which is inaccurate and puzzling. "Hart Noble" owns Kingdom's; Henry Yewbeam appears on the family tree as "Henry" and this is his name in the UK edition as well. Such sloppiness speaks to me of a book rushed into print without adequate attention to detail. This is a sign of the publisher treating the work as genre fiction, rather than giving it its due as literature. I usually think highly of Scholastic, but this series is causing me to re-evaluate that. show less

While I once again enjoyed the story as a whole, the book failed to improve from the last installment. I keep hanging onto this series because I'm hoping it'll improve but, so far, it has not. Nevertheless, I plan to continue to read the series and see what new stories unfold for the children of the red king!

All the animals have vanished. The shadow in the Red King's portrait has escaped. Strange things are happening all over Bloor's and Charlie and his friends must figure it out quick or Amy (Charlie's Mom) might remarry another!

Book Five in the Children of the Red King was good, especially the last few chapters. Nimmo doesn't do a great job of the why's behind the characters but it's an interesting story.

In the fifth book in Jennie Nimmo's Children of the Red King series, odd things are happening in Charlie Bone's neighborhood. First there is an odd snowstorm and then all the animals disappear. Benjamin Brown, recently returned from Hong Kong, misses his dog Runner Bean and wants Charlie to help get the dog back. Charlie agrees, although he's upset that Benjamin's parents are working at Bloor Academy as spies. Charlie also has other problems. His grandmother Maisie has been frozen and he and his Uncle Paton are unable to break the spell. The Flames also warn Charlie that his mother is in danger, but it's impossible for him to watch over her while he's at school. Sure enough, Amy Bone meets the mysterious Hart Noble and begins to change. show more Charlie begins looking harder than ever for his missing father before his mother forgets him entirely. Charlie is going to need the help of all his friends, including new friend Naren Bloor, to make things right again.

"Charlie Bone and the Hidden King" was an okay book in an okay series. There are some nice fantasy elements such as Charlie's wand still helping him even though it's a moth and Naren's ability to do "shadow writing". The disappearance and reappearance of the animals is well done. Also interesting is how Charlie's power is growing and Manfred's development of a new power. Unfortunately, Nimmo doesn't use her own imagination enough and many elements in the book come across as Harry Potter rip-offs: there are other schools with endowed children (a dinner scene with head teachers from those schools is straight out of "The Goblet of Fire"); a map; the fact that Charlie has a wand; and there is a magic mirror. The book is awkwardly written and shifts from different the viewpoints of different characters instead of just Charlie's viewpoint. Nimmo often explains things in writing instead of showing readers through the actions of the characters. Many of the characters aren't well developed and when a teacher's secret is revealed it doesn't make the impact that it should since the teacher doesn't register as a character before that. The plot line of Benjamin's parents being spies comes to an abrupt and not very plausible end. While there is a major and quite well done twist at the end involving one of the children, the whole ending of the book feels rushed. Since this was supposed to be the last book in the series (there's another on the way), Nimmo wraps up most of the plot lines, but the plot line involving his father should have been much more developed and I found the end to that particular plot line rather flat.

Children will like "Charlie Bone and the Hidden King" and the entire Children of the Red King Series, but adults will want deeper reading. show less

The Charlie Bone series will keep those 'when is the next Potter book coming out' jitters at bay. Sorry Ms Nimmo but they just aren't as good. They seem a little more loosly written, not quite as polished. And I can't believe someone hasn't been sued for plagerism. There is a castle that serves as a school, evil teachers/students, nasty aunts, talking pictures, a Pettigrew and many other similarities.
Don't get me wrong, they were entertaining. Just missing something.

When Charlie turns twelve on New Year's Eve, the Flame Cats give him a grave Something ancient has awoken, and Charlie must be watchful. Soon Charlie learns that the shadow from the Red King's portrait has been released, and that it will do anything to keep Charlie from finding his father. Meanwhile, pets are mysteriously vanishing from the city, and Olivia is in danger of revealing her newfound powers.

Finally - Charlie is able to discover someone he dearly wants to discover (and that's all I will say about that!). How all the wicked things are reversed isn't quite clear to me - that is to say I understand what happened, but not why it worked. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Still, an enjoyable installment.