The Magpie King is a children’s fantasy/fairy-tale book featuring a tiny faerie called Tatty Moon who lives in the English countryside in the town of Little Upham. Her best friend is William Patch who is an elf, he also lives in Little Upham.

The pair get up to lots of adventures which feature plenty of animals such as cats, magpies, dragonflies, and even a few gnomes as well as the evil magpie king, Cormac. There’s also a Queen who needs her help.

The story also features some wonderful human characters too including an elderly couple, Hilda and George Parsons, who know all about the faeries and like to keep watch over them and Bert the Postman.

The whole story is one big adventure featuring some tiny characters who are all wonderful and most have their own way of speaking. Tatty reminded me slightly of Tinker-Bell, especially when she got mad.

Whilst I think the story is very pleasing and is wonderful with a clean, slightly old-fashioned plot I was a little disappointed to see it only had a tiny illustration at the start of each chapter. With so much happening I wanting to see it in detail and I’m sure kids will too. I also think that the book is a little bit long for the average middle-grade reader and it will take them a while to get through it.

Overall for confident middle-grade readers who love fantasy, this book would be the perfect purchase.

About the Author

M.J. Fahy lives on the south coast of England and writes and illustrates middle grade fiction from a writing shed in her garden. She is married with two adult children, two dogs and a deaf cat.

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