KINGDOM OF THE GOLDEN DRAGON

The adolescent heroes of City of the Beasts are off for another journey with primitive peoples and spectacular creatures in this clunky sequel. Alexander and his Brazilian friend, Nadia, join Alexander’s grandmother Kate on an International Geographic journalistic expedition to the Himalayas. On their visit to the Forbidden Kingdom, they hope to see the mysterious Golden Dragon, an ancient artifact with prophetic powers. Unbeknownst to the adventurers, wicked agents of the second richest man in the world are also on their way to the Forbidden Kingdom, hoping to steal the Golden Dragon and its secret. With the telepathically communicated help of Prince Dil Bahadur, the ascetic teen heir to the throne, Nadia and Alexander must save the day. Bestial Yetis and Buddhist monks work alongside the animal totems Nadia and Alexander discovered in their prior enterprise. The legally enforced primitivism of the People of the Dragon is ultimately and incongruously preserved by Alexander’s knowledge of 21st-century technology. Awkward and overly expository prose makes this otherwise promising offering waver between magical adventure and social-studies lesson. (Fiction. 13-15)