Sky Pirates #2: The Dragon's Gold; Alex English, illustrated by Mark Chambers

In 2020, Alex English delivered a debut book that was one of my favourite reads of the year so I was very excited for the sequel.

Echo is loving life aboard the Scarlet Margaret. Reunited with her mum, Lil, she spends her days searching for treasure, exploring the skies and learning what it takes to become a true sky pirate.

When Lil is summoned to a meeting of the Seven Skies Alliance, a worried Echo, along with best friend Horace, finds herself on a spying mission that quickly presents itself with the perfect opportunity for Echo to prove her abilities as a sky pirate. Legendary treasure lies deep in the heart of a dragon’s lair and the first sky pirate crew to find it will rule over the Seven Skies. But does Echo have what it takes to find the treasure before the rival pirate clans…

Skulduggery in the skies, underwater libraries, pirates behaving badly, fabulous contraptions and exploding mechanical birds. This is Echo’s biggest adventure yet and it makes for a brilliant read that had me racing through the pages desperate to find out what would happen next. It was a great deal of fun to be back with Echo, Gilbert and Horace and it didn’t take long for me to be swept back into their world and journeying through fantastical lands of ice, volcanoes, dragons and my favourite of all…marshmallows. Who wouldn’t want to visit a land where marshmallows grow instead of flowers, marshmallamas roam freely and the local tavern serves marshmallarmalade on toast and marshmallama milkshakes!

Like all the best adventures, peril, danger and close scrapes are never far away whether it be from rival private crews or having to face-off with a dragon. Echo has a knack of always getting herself into a pickle. Her plans often go wrong and things always seem to go from bad to worse yet I never lost faith that she would find a way to fix everything. Flawed, fearless and desperate to prove herself, Echo is easy to root for and accompanied by her trusty lizard sidekick Gilbert and nervy yet loyal friend Horace, the trio are the perfect team.

Bags of excitement and full of friendship and heart, this fast-paced, swashbuckling story is a fresh and original pirate adventure that will have readers wanting to fly away to uncharted lands in their own airship. Loved it!

Recommended for 8+.

With thanks to Alex English and Simon & Schuster for the advanced reader copy that was received through NetGalley.