THE GRYPHON'S LAIR

Princess Rowan and company return to battle monsters, bestial and human alike, in Armstrong’s action-packed sequel to A Royal Guide to Monster Slaying (2019).

Having flouted tradition to trade roles with her twin brother, 12-year-old royal monster hunter Rowan has at last settled into routine—if you can call wyvern attacks, gryphon births, and political undermining from ambitious cousins “routine.” The court is thrown into upheaval once again when the gryphon that Rowan captured in the previous title as part of her monster hunting trials dies giving birth, and the fledgling beast rapidly grows bigger and more dangerous than Rowan can manage. After an accident, the princess reluctantly volunteers to return the creature to the wild—a task easier said than done when every monster in the kingdom seems to dog the princess’s steps. Armstrong follows the second-installment playbook almost to the letter, introducing new monsters and every fight sequence imaginable to test Rowan’s, Dain’s, and Alianor’s expanding skill sets and saving any real plot advancement for the inevitable third book. But action is no sin with such an impressive menagerie to feature—belligerent koalas and carnivorous aquatic horses just for starters—nor does Armstrong waste the opportunity to show readers the growing depth of Rowan’s sense of purpose and relationship with her friends. Rowan’s illustrated field guide continues to expand in the backmatter as well. Armstrong’s setting is a thoroughly multiracial (but not racialized) one, with the principals’ skin tones of varying shades of brown.

A fun and fiery follow-up.