Rick Yancey, The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp, Bloomsbury/Allen & Unwin, Jan 2016 (new Australian edition), 368pp., $12.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781619639164
Alfred Kropp is just your regular boy with no parents and a greedy uncle who wants Alfred’s help with a robbery. It’s not that easy, though. Stealing the sword from its hiding spot at Samson Towers triggers sword-fighting action from brown-robed defenders and Uncle Farrell is killed, smote with Excalibur itself. Mr Samson explains about the destructive power of the Sword of Kings and the descendants of the Knights of the Round Table sworn to keep it safe, but afterwards leaves Alfred to his fate as a ward of the state. All alone as he is, what does Alfred have to lose? When he recognises one of the brown-robed men from the robbery in a restaurant – and Bennacio, descendant of the Knight Bedivere, recognises him – Alfred starts on his mission to save the world by returning the sword to its keepers. What follows are wild adventures pursuing the sword until its final retrieval at the cost of many. But for Alfred to truly be the Master of the Sword, the last heir of Bedivere must die. Bennacio’s sacrifice enables Alfred, the last descendant of Lancelot, to claim the sword as Merlin foretold. That the sword disappears as Alfred lies wounded signifies that Alfred’s peace-keeping tasks may not be finished.
This is the first of the Alfred Kropp series and was originally published in 2005. Books 2 and 3 follow and are previewed at the end of book 1, as is a summary of King Arthur’s myth. Alfred is an unlikely hero but is pulled along – just like the reader – into a tale of power and struggle as legendary as that of King Arthur. A pacey addition to the Arthurian legend where heads roll (literally) and ancient caretakers undertake grand quests. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Pam Harvey