Tales from the Five Kingdoms
6 primary works
Book 1
An exuberant, hilarious and wildly entertaining fairy tale with a cast of characters who are good, bad and very, very ugly.
All is not well in the crumbling castle high above the mountain village of Fracture. The sorceress Lady Lamorna has her heart set on a new robe. A very expensive new robe. To get the cash she will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, blackmail and more than a little black magic. But she reckons without the heroic Gracie Gillypot, not to mention a gallant if rather scruffy prince, two chatty bats, the wickedest stepsister ever, a troll with a grudge – and some very Ancient crones.
Book 2
The good witches of Wadingburn are worried – there's a new witch in town with a bag of magic bones, and she's so evil she makes their toes ache... Another fun-filled fantasty in the Tales from the Five Kingdoms stories that started with The Robe of Skulls.
Truda Hangnail is a very wicked witch, banned from the Five Kingdoms because of her use of deep magic. Then she comes up with a fiendish plan to restore evil to the Five Kingdoms, transforming the good witches of Waddingburn into shrivelled, wicked old witches who will help her take over King Frank’s kingdom on his fiftieth birthday. Luckily, a sweet-natured half-human, half-elf named Loobly is witness to Truda’s evil spell and sets off to fetch help. As the birthday party looms and Truda’s evil gathers strength, Loobly enlists the help of Prince Marcus of Gorebreath and Gracie Gillypot, as well as old friends Gubble the troll and Marlon and Alf the bats, to stop Truda and send her packing to the house of the Ancient Crones to face her just deserts.
Book 3
Hilarious third book in the Tales from the Five Kingdoms series which began with the popular The Robe of Skulls and features many of the same much-loved characters.
It is a fine day for dwarf watching – at least that is what Gracie Gillypott and Prince Marcus think when they set out, quite unaware that Princess Marigold of Dreghorn has set her sights on Marcus, and decided to "follow him to the ends of the earth" – fan, frilly petticoats and all. All is not well; the dwarves are overworked and underpaid, having been expected to produce extra gold for wedding crowns for the wedding of Fedora and Prince Tertius; to deal with the problem, the Chief of Works sends for a couple of trolls who have an agenda of their own – to find a princess for their leader, who believes True Love will melt his heart of glass. Gracie is mistaken for a princess, Marigold gets in everyone's way, Gubble is forced to make a terrible choice ... but fortunately Marlon and Alf are there to save the day.
Book 4
Hilarious fourth book in the Tales from the Five Kingdoms series which began with the popular The Robe of Skulls and features many of the same much-loved characters.
Marcus, Prince of Gorebreath, has a plan – he wants to take Gracie Gillypot on an adventure for her birthday, preferably to see a dragon or two. But then he discovers that there may be a dragon's egg somewhere within the Five Kingdoms and, what's more, it could be due to hatch at any minute! A newly-hatched dragon would be highly dangerous in the wrong hands and the race begins to find the egg before the zombies, werewolves, deep witches and sorcerers get to hear about it. The tiny dragon hatches under the watchful eye of its parents, and all three fly off into the sunset ... just as Gracie remembers that this is the day of her birthday.
Book 5
The fifth book in Vivian French's comic fantasy series Tales from the Five Kingdoms. In this hilarious new story, Gracie and Marcus, our much loved hero and heroine are faced with a zombie who is not only horribly evil but an excruciatingly bad musician.
It's nearly Cockenzie Rood Day and Prince Albion wants a grand celebration. But his plans are ruined when he is kidnapped by the terrifying zombie Fiddleduster Squint, who wants to get into the Five Kingdoms. When Squint is refused entry across the magical border he and his creepy shadow go in search of giants with the intention of tricking them into causing all sorts of mayhem. It's a race against time but Gracie Gillypot, Prince Marcus and Gubble the troll manage to get there first and avert disaster. Albion can have his party after all, the giants are left in peace and our heroes return just in time to celebrate Queen Bluebell's birthday. What's more, as the series nears the end, it's clear that Gracie and Marcus are headed for a royal romance
Book 6
The sixth book in the comic fantasy series Tales from the Five Kingdoms – in which the borders are broken and the Five Kingdoms changed for ever.
The Web of Power which keeps the Five Kingdoms safe from evil is under threat. Foyce is determined to destroy it so she can take a terrible revenge on her step-sister, Gracie Gillypot. Meanwhile the five Royal Families are in turmoil. Queen Bluebell is fed up with her tedious grandson, Vincent; Prince Tertius is suffering from the endless nagging of his new wife, Princess Fedora – and on top of everything else there’s a big tournament coming up. Things come to a head when Gubble the troll crashes into King Frank's study, and he and Gracie are thrown into a dungeon. A band of fearsome werewolves are gathering in the forests, and Foyce is among them. Will Gracie, Marcus and a handful of bats be able to save the kingdoms from total disaster?