Kingdom of the Golden Dragon

A spellbinding adventure centred around majestic landscapes, buddhism and friendship. Kingdom of the Golden Dragon is the second in a YA trilogy, following Alex and his best friend Nadia, as they accompany his journalist grandmother around the world. I hadn’t read the first in the trilogy, and didn’t find it an issue - each book is very well self-contained.

This particular story finds Alex and Nadia in the ‘Kingdom of the Golden Dragon’ - a small country at the foot of the Himalayas, heavily based on Bhutan. The pair find themselves rolled up in a robbery, kidnapping and whirlwind quest across the mountains in order to save the kingdom. Throw in a seven foot monk trained in deadly martial arts, a strong-willed local girl with enough courage to face down bandits and of course - a valley full of yetis - and you’ve got yourself a winner.

It was delightful from start to finish, an engrossing read that I didn’t want to put down. Allende skilfully focuses on strong characters rather than lengthy descriptions to drive the narrative, a great way to keep younger readers engaged. She utilises Bhutan’s real unusual governance style which puts it’s peoples happiness and environmental sustainability before all else, to create a tangible world where both the yetis and humans who can morph into their spirit totems are quite believable. I only marked it down by one star because I felt like the final twist was much too predictable, and there was definitely space to throw the reader off course a little more!

All round a really fun read, a great recommendation for anyone looking to loose themselves in an easy YA fantasy adventure.