I really hope that when this is read in classrooms, it encourages children towards history and all the fantastic stories of the past. Alfie must quickly grow into the King the country needs, or who knows what will be left of the country?

Featuring a legendary superhero, a reluctant teen monarch and a secret centuries-long battle; Defender of the Realm is an epic, action-packed, adventure of a novel from debut authors Mark Huckerby and Nick Ostler. A legendary superhero, fighting a secret, centuries-long, battle to protect the nation from monsters and super-villains.

He would like nothing better than to throw off his royal status and lead a normal teenage life, but instead he finds himself unexpectedly propelled on to the throne by the death of his father. Pick up all of the newly released Defenders of the Realm items including the long awaited reprint of the Quest of the Realm Deck! I wrestled with whether to give it four or three stars, but because of some issues I had with the pacing in the later chapters, I ultimately bumped it down.

I love Hayley's character especially, and I love the mix of folklore, history, magic and technology that this AU Britain has. And for those of you who’ve read the first book, you’ll know that in Defender of the Realm: Dark Age, there’s going to be something else that will test Alfie’s resilience to the limit. You aren’t sitting at an odd angle where your elbow is always poking out of the window when you turn the steering wheel, and it is furnished with all the modern comforts.It is one of the best exports of British engineering and it has really challenged every other off-road automotive manufacturer. Not just the two protagonists, but every side character has moments to show who they truly are, and I found that enjoyable. When I was visiting the southwest of England, I saw a Defender wrapped in dark green, almost like British Racing Green, so I had to do some Landy spotting and take a photograph.