The Last of the High Kings

The Last of the High Kings

When eleven-year-old Jenny Liddy, in turmoil over learning that she is a changeling, makes a deal with a devil creature, she endangers the human race but her own cleverness, her human and fairy fathers, and the last of Ireland’s High Kings help to make things right. 25,000 first printing. Grade 7–10—This sequel to The New Policeman (HarperCollins, 2007) picks up with J.J. as an adult with children of his own. Eventually it is revealed that he and his wife, Aisling, traded babies with a fairy couple. Since there is no time in Tír na n'Óg, the land of the fairy folk, the fairies' baby had to come to Earth to grow up. J.J. and Aisling will receive their own child back when she returns. Besides this, there is a ghost on the beacon (a hill overlooking the village and surrounding farmland) guarding a mysterious object that could mean destruction for all mankind. The last of the high kings for whom the book is titled has a small but pivotal role in the final resolution involving púkas, fairies, and monsters. Slightly disjointed at first, the narrative picks up steam about a third of the way through. Readers who enjoy fantasy will be intrigued with this unusual tale involving Irish legend and folklore.— Robin Henry, Griffin Middle School, Frisco, TX Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Thompson follows her international bestseller, The New Policeman (2007), with this sequel, also set in a contemporary Irish countryside simmering with magic. J. J. Liddy, 15 in Policeman, is now grown, married, and the father of four. His daughter, Jenny, claims to keep company with ghosts and a magical goat, and Thompson gradually reveals the source of her odd behavior: she’s a fairy changeling whom J. J. and his wife swapped with their own baby in a complicated arrangement. A convoluted, shaky scheme to return Jenny to the fairy world raises a number of troubling questions about familial love and loyalty that distract from what seems to be the story’s central focus: an ancient, epic battle between supernatural forces. Particularly far-fetched is the part of J. J.’s teenage sister, Hazel, who agrees to publicly fake a pregnancy as part of the ruse. But as in Policeman, Thompson will captivate readers with her depiction of the suspenseful battle between unseen, ageless forces and with her character Jenny, who has the power to rescue or destroy worlds that grown-ups have ravaged. Grades 7-10. --Gillian Engberg “Delightful.” — KLIATT “Beautifully executed.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “It would be hard to beat the ingenuity of The New Policeman, but this sequel is equally intricate and even more cohesive.” — Horn Book (starred review) Traveling to the land of eternal youth was the only way J.J. Liddy could stop time from leaking from his world to T'ir na n'Og. But fifteen years after returning from the land of the faeries, J.J. wonders if that long-ago visit is responsible for the strange things now happening to those around him. Why does his daughter Jenny roam barefoot through the wilds, when she should be in school? When did the mysterious white goat begin to patrol the hillside? What is the secret project that J.J.'s son Donal is attempting? And who is the ghost guarding the stone beacon at the top of the mountain—and why has Jenny befriended him? Finding answers to these questions will take J.J. and his family on the most important and dangerous journey of their lives. If they fail, it will undo all the good that J.J. accomplished fifteen years ago. But if they succeed, they will defeat the forces that are gathering to destroy all of mankind, and finally secure the future of the last of the high kings. Kate Thompson lives on the west coast of Ireland, which provides inspiration for the Irish magic, music, and landscape in the award-winning The New Policeman and The Last of the High Kings .