Defender of the Realm: 1

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Alfie must quickly grow into the King the country needs, or who knows what will be left of the country? I think this is a wonderful idea for a story and a brilliant way to get more young people interested in history. By using the Web site, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by the Terms and Conditions. And when the evil Black Lizard seems unstoppable Alfie has to learn to protect his country, be King and be The Defender, but is Alfie the right person for the job?

A legendary superhero, fighting a secret, centuries-long, battle to protect the nation from monsters and super-villains.After the Defender’s losing battle against the Black Dragon, the United Kingdom finds itself under the cruel control of “Lord Protector” Lock, the undead Viking invaders and the monstrous berserkers unleashed by the Raven Banner. We all fail at some time or another and it’s something we embraced when we came up with Alfie, the boy-king hero of Defender of the Realm. The greatest battle Alfie can see ahead of him is to win the hearts and minds of his unconvinced subjects.

My son is 7 and so I'll probably save this for him to read in a few years' time but I can imagine him absorbing information such as the details of the Coronation and going to look them to see if they're true! Hayley is a strong character who helps cement the story in contemporary times, bringing her technological know-how to improve the armoury of the Defender of the Realm. And while any contemporary British royal is highly, highly unlikely to descend from Alfred the Great, I can forgive this because it's part of the plot and the book teaches other history lessons. My go-to wheels used to always be a Range Rover, but the new Defender is so good, it is literally one of the nicest cars I’ve ever driven. This should do well,but I am likely to skim future volumes just to keep up with the plot, and I find it sad that apparently this is up for a "best debut" award by some group in Britain.While the action is key in a story like this, the characters and their relationships with each other is where this story shines. When Alfie’s father the King dies suddenly, Alfie not only must prepare to ascend the throne but to also take up the mantle of Defender of the Realm that has been passed from one monarch to the next for centuries. And worse come down to crash as he suddenly becomes the King and found out that his job is not only come to boring parties ( in which he despise ) but also becoming the Defender.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. He DEFINITELY did not expect to be DEFENDER OF THE REALM, a legendary superhero, fighting a secret, centuries-long battle to protect the nation from monsters and super-villains.

I'm sure some highly critical readers will find many holes in this story (I did wonder about the dialogue - if it resembles how British youngsters talk), but I think middle grade readers will like the action and twists, and the plot was easy to follow. A legendary superhero, fighting a secret, centuries-long battle to protect the nation from monsters and super villains. It’s a big enough issue for some schools to have a “Failure Week”, where pupils are encouraged to take a risk and try out new sports, subjects and hobbies, even if it means they might fail at the first attempt.