The Curse of the Spiderking

I got a book signed while I was in Missouri.

Actually, two of them.

It was very exciting. I’ve never had any of my books signed in person. I ordered a signed copy once, quite a long time ago when I first realized that owning your own copy of a book was not only allowed, but also very exciting.

That was a monumental discovery for me.

I am pretty sure that it’s only a coincidence that I have been broke ever since that day.

Getting my books signed was by far one of the most exciting highlights of my trip to Missouri. The author, Wayne Thomas Batson, has been a great favorite in our household ever since I was a young teenager. (I mentioned getting to meet him—and posted pictures—here.) His books have been passed from hand to hand through my family, introduced to the younger siblings as soon as they can possibly understand them. Several of my brothers were adamant non-readers until they picked up Batson’s books.

Their poor opinion of books changed very quickly.

Although I had plenty of Batson’s books to choose from on my shelves, including Isle of Swords, I decided on only two. The Curse of the Spiderking and its sequel, Venom and Song. The books were written by Batson and another author, Christopher Hopper, and they are a phenomenal example of the imagination and skill that goes into all of his works.

The book ties together seven main characters, a feat most books would shy away from. However, each of the seven teenagers is so unique and so brilliant in their own right that switching between them is anything but confusing.

The story twists itself into a mixture of history and present, telling the story of a fallen kingdom in another world and the kidnapping of the Lords of Berenfell, seven newborns that were whisked from their world to one completely alien from their own.

Earth.

The seven children are separated, left in orphanages and foster families all over Europe and America. They are raised without any knowledge of their past, safe from harm but hidden from the men and women trying desperately to recover and restore them to their own kind.

But their safety can’t last forever, and as each of them reaches their thirteenth year, strange events in their once ordinary lives threaten to expose them to the hunters on their tail.

The Curse of the Spiderking is a kaleidoscope of brilliant characters, stunning imagery, and spine-chilling villains, all tied together in a fast-paced plot that keeps that pages turning. It has been a great favorite of mine for many years, and I am so excited to have a signed copy sitting on my shelf at last!

The policeman and her mother laughed. “A man who speaks with spiders? I’ll make a note of that,” the policeman said as he walked away.