G113 E-Reading Book Review of Young Knights of the Round Table: The King's Ransom by Cheryl Carpinello

Name of Book: The King's Ransom

Author: Cheryl Carpinello

ISBN: 9781482527094

Publisher: Createspace

Part of a Series: Young Knights of the Round Table

Type of book: King Arthur, secrets, mystery, plot, young adult, myths, quest, Medieval Ages

Year it was published: 2012

Summary:

In medieval Wales, eleven-year-old Prince Gavin, thirteen-year-old orphan Philip, and fifteen-year-old blacksmith's apprentice Bryan are brought together in friendship by one they call the Wild Man. When an advisor to the king is killed and a jewelled medallion is stolen from the king's treasury, the Wild Man is accused of the theft and murder.


Filled with disbelief at the arrest of the Wild Man, the three friends embark upon a knight's quest to save their friend's life. To succeed, the three must confront their fears and insecurities, and one of them will have to disclose the biggest secret of all.

Join Gavin, Philip, and Bryan on their quest and share the adventures that await them in the land of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

Characters:

The characters tend to be on the simple side and don't have multiple layers covering them. Reasons why evil characters did what they did isn't given and I felt that there wasn't a lot of exploration with their inner emotions and whatnot. The characters weren't as strong as the quest and the surprises.

Theme:

Don't accept things at face value and question everything

Plot:

This is written in third person narrative from Gavin's, Bryan's and Phillip's point of views. The chapters each encompass and talk about the guys and their quests. I was impressed with the way the author wove in prophecies throughout the book and how she made them come true. Although certain secrets seemed last minute, they truly were a shocker once you get to them. All in all, I enjoyed reading the book.

Author Information:
(from goodreads.com)
url
http://www.goodreads.com/CherylCarpinello

gender
female

website
http://www.beyondtodayeducator.com

twitter username
ccarpinello

genre
Children's, Young Adult, Historical Fiction

influences
My love of reading, my imagination, my kids, and my students

member since
February 2010

About this author:
I use my love of the Legend of King Arthur to introduce young readers to this Timeless Legend and to entice reluctant readers to read more.

Guinevere: On the Eve of Legend is my first book in the King Arthur Legend.

My second book The King’s Ransom (Young Knights of the Round Table) is a 2012 Silver Award Recipient for YA Fiction from Children's Literary Classics and has recently been honored a Finalist in The 2012 USA Best Book Awards in the "E-book: Children's Fiction" category.

It is available Museitup Publishing and Amazon.

I do Middle Grade and Young Adult author interviews on my blog Carpinellos Writing Pages.

Find me @ccarpinello on Twitter.

Opinion:

This is more suited towards children or young adults, although I imagine that adults will find this book interesting. Also, this is more of a boy's type book, in my opinion because it focused on three boys and their quests to rescue a friend known as Wild Man. Girls don't play a significant role, and there isn't romance in there. I'm not nitpicking and I'm glad that a book for boys is written, but I'm pointing out my observations. The strengths included the quest and the revealed secrets towards the end, which I'm not going to spoil here, although I'm curious about the character named Tom and his state.

Quick notes: I would like to thank the author for the opportunity to read and review the book

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)