Grade 5-8–This addition to the series provides succinct and captivating biographies of 10 sovereigns, primarily men from Western culture, from early times through the end of the 18th century. The author chronicles their formative years, their reigns, and their legacies. Cousens's eye-catching graphic art establishes a visual reference for the setting in which the featured ruler lived, and it evenly matches the dramatic events and themes highlighted. With life links that connect one leader with the next, maps that detail the area of the monarch's reign, text bubbles with additional information, and a pictorial time line, the book lends itself well to browsing. One noticeable omission is a bibliography or a recommended book list. While the Graphic Biographies (Rosen) and the You Wouldn't Want to… series (Watts) cover some of the people or time periods featured here, this book is refreshing in that multiple biographies and a historical context are provided in one volume. For those libraries that need to enhance their world history or biography collections, this is a solid choice that will likely appeal to reluctant readers.–Hilary Writt, Sullivan University, Lexington, KY