Who will survive the war in Hagwood?
The war in Hagwood has begun. Rhiannon Rigantonan, the ruthless High Queen of Faerie, fights not only for her own immortality and her iron rule over Hagwood, but also to serve her most far-reaching ambition: to conquer every corner of the known world. While the enchanted casket that holds the High Lady’s mortal heart has been found, the golden key that can unlock it—and put an end to her reign of terror—has been lost. And if the queen gains possession of the key, no one will be able to oppose her.
Meanwhile, the queen’s long-exiled sister, Princess Clarisant, joins together with the diminutive werlings to combat the forces of evil. Vastly outnumbered, their only hope is a miracle. Always the reluctant hero, Gamaliel Tumpin is chosen for a special destiny, but it will come at a cost. As lives are lost and a bloody battle rages, the fate of Hagwood will be decided once and for all.
Robin Jarvis (b. 1963) spent most of his school years in art rooms. After a degree course in graphic design, he worked in television, making models and puppets. One evening, while doodling, he began inventing names and stories for his drawings, and thus began his writing career. His first book, The Depford Mice (1989), established Jarvis as a bestselling children’s author. Jarvis came up with the story for Thorn Ogres of Hagwood while on a forest hike, when he heard a racket up in the trees and saw two squirrels chasing each other. He suddenly thought that perhaps only one of them was a real squirrel and the other an imposter, and so the werling creatures were born. Jarvis has been shortlisted for numerous awards, and won the Lancashire Libraries Children’s Book of the Year Award. One of his trilogies, Tales from the Wyrd Museum, was on a list of books recommended by then–British Prime Minister Tony Blair for dads to read with their sons. He lives in Greenwich, London, and still makes model monsters, mostly on the computer.