The Warrior in My Wardrobe: More Misadventures with Merdyn the Wild!
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley December 8, 2021
Author Simon Farnaby. Illustrations Claire Powell.
Distributor: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 9781444954395
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Release Date: November 2021
Website: https://www.hachette.com.au
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Merdyn the Wild with his modern day world off-sider Rose and her amazing talking Guinea Pig Bubbles, are back in another crash, bang adventure, The Warrior in my Wardrobe, as they time travel into the Dark Ages to rescue Rose’s rather annoying brother Kris, who was mistakenly kidnapped.
Actually, Rose was the one who should have been kidnapped as part of a seriously terrible, deadly and horrible plot to well, possibly get even with Merdyn for something that happened in his past and take over the world! Well, why not!
Simon Farnaby brings his legendary droll wit to bear in this annoyingly fantastic adventure, dotted throughout with real facts, that help explain some of the ‘olde worlde’ in other words, Dark Age language used, because as you know language was used very differently then, as well as some of the history of the times.
Because it is set in the Dark Ages, Arthur the future King of Camelot is part of the plot as Merdyn, later to be known as Merlin, is teaching him the skills of the craft of becoming King in his time and place in history. Excalibur is also in use, as Arthur insists on waving it around every at every opportunity.
But back to the plot. Basically Kris finds himself in the Dark Ages with no way out. He is a bit of a fashionista and is desperately trying to work out how to maintain his hairstyle and clothing, in a time when he is tied up, there is no running water and the food is terrible, to say the least.
After several days of sulking and skulking, Rose realize Kris is not returning any time soon and it is up to her to put bygones by, so makes the decision to time travel, with of course Bubbles in her pocket, to see if she can find Merdyn and if they can mount a rescue mission.
The rest you will have to read about for yourself as it involves great magic, huge luck, nasty, nasty people and a lot of very smelly stuff happening, before they and a few others are rescued but not without almost altering the future.
Look out for the very quirky little twist in the final pages! Interesting and much food for another adventure, maybe!
Oh, yes, Claire Powell has added to the mayhem with some fantastic cartoon style illustrations as sometimes, words will simply not paint the right kind of Dark Age pictures at all.
Summation: Fantastic and if you have not read the first book, The Wizard in my Shed, treat yourself to both and have a terrific time revisiting time.