Free Lance and the Lake Of Skulls: 6 - Tapa dura

Críticas

Thrill-a-minute quests that are fraught with danger. They may be short on words but these great little books are jam-packed with excitement and double-dealing thrills. (Sunday Times)

This is one knight who survives not just by being heroic - a pile of skulls is testimony to those who've tried this - but on his own wits. (Waterstones Books Quarterly)

Raymond Chandler goes to Camelot ... Narrated in a hard-bitten, sardonic voice ... aimed at children of 10 upwards whose reading ability is some way behind their chronological age, but it could be equally enjoyed by word-savvy eight and nine-year-olds. (TES)

Owes a lot to Beowulf and more to pulp fiction: close scrapes with monsters and villains, wisecracks, double and triple crossings and plenty of Tarantinoid violence. The language has the easy clarity of a Paul Jennngs story with a similar wealth of episode ... The energy of Riddell's line drawings matches the hectic pace of the storytelling. One for the lads? All the females are villainous and most end up dead, so it should go down well amongst some of them at least. (Books for Keeps)

Suitable for pupils of 11 years up ... written to appeal to less able readers ... Funny with a good line in irony ... There are some hefty examples of similes to appeal to the English teacher. The premise of the story and the settings are really clearly described and illustrated so that the reader willl have a good picture of the situations in his head. ... an engrossing story for this age group ... it is likely that having read this one readers will be looking for more. (School Librarian)

Reseña del editor

Free Lance is down on his luck and stuck in the Badlands. And as usual there is an oaf who wants to take him on. But that fight leads to a job offer which has enough gold attached to it to get him out of this hole: the local lord wants him to recover an enchanted crown from the middle of the lake of skulls. Of course he omits to tell Free Lance of the terrors that await. Full of drama and humour, this swashbuckling fantasy adventure introduces a marvellous new hero by two of the leading exponents of the genre with an action hero who is both charismatic and mysterious, and told in a laconic, Marlowesque first person narrative. Certain to be enjoyed by all readers of THE EDGE CHRONICLES and Terry Pratchett, and those aspiring to read them.

Part of a unique range of books aimed at 11+s that through integration of text and illustration are also accessible to those with reading abilities of as young as 8, produced in consultation with literacy consultant Wendy Cooling.