The Charlatan’s Boy

Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags: Jonathan Rogers

Our rating:

The story of Grady, a boy with no knowledge of his family, as he travels with a cheating showman named Floyd. The golden age of their show used to be the “Wild Man of the Feechiefen Swamp” act, but now that feechiefolk have become a laughable legend, the traveling duo are forced to find other shows make money from. That is, until they hit upon a scheme that will force all of Corenwald to believe in feechies once more—and bring back an opportunity for their favorite bit of show business. As they travel back and forth across the land, Grady also begins to discover things about himself.

I found this story very entertaining. Though some characters appear only for a short time, many of them actually do tie back in later in the book. My main complaint was that most of the book involves them cheating the townspeople in one way or another, but Grady’s conscience still pesters him, and the story ends well. Readers of the Wilderking Trilogy (The Bark of the Bog Owl, The Secret of the Swamp King, and The Way of the Wilderking) can enjoy picking up on subtle tie-ins, while new readers can still enter and enjoy the world of Corenwald. Overall, definitely worth reading. According to the back of the book, there’s a sequel on its way later this year. I shall look forward to it.