Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King (The Guardians Series #1)
4.5
40
5
1
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781442430495 |
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| Publisher: | Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books |
| Publication date: | 09/04/2018 |
| Series: | William Joyce's Guardians Series , #1 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 180,275 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.80(d) |
| Age Range: | 7 - 11 Years |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King
4.5 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
40 reviews.
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My all-time favourite kids series of all. It is certainly the Guardian of Childhood.
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Nicholas St. North and the Nightmare King is a fun and new explanation about the origins of Santa Claus. It has something for everyone, both those who celebrate Christmas, and those who do not. There’s fighting, action, magic, invention, and some captivating descriptions about light and dark and good and bad.
The purity and innocence that comes with childhood really plays an important role in this swashbuckling adventure. North, the Santa Claus figure, is dashing and roguish and nothing like the Santa we think of now, but children will love to see him in this new light. Everything about the story is special and holds this sense of enchantment that will charm even the most reluctant readers.
While the story focuses on Santa Claus, it doesn’t go into any sort of religious background. Instead, Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King, taps into the magic that comes with the holiday season and the childhood wonderment that this time of the year invokes. It’s a dreamlike story that will delight readers and enchant them with a new way of thinking of their dear Santa Claus.
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Awesome book. If anyone loves different spins on old classics as we are seeing in Once Upon a Time and in Wicked, they will love this take on childhood heroes.
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This book is of the best I ever read, and I have read alot of books.
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I love this book. I love it very much. It captivated my imagination and hid it in the forests of Santoff Claussen with the bear and the Spirit of The Forest and the Great Reindeer too. It is dreaming sweet dreams with Kathrine and Nightlight. My imagination is happy as am I. This book is marvelous. To those that say otherwise I am sorry that you have no imagination
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This is a very good book for children and is a good book for reading around christmas time
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Luv it
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Joyce did an amazing job. I really felt I was in the story!
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Let me start by saying that, like many others, my first intoduction to this series was rough Rise of the Guardians. I came into this knowing in general what to expect.
So having now read it, let me tell you what you can expect - and not expect.
The characters, as in the movie, are the strongest part of this book. The only one you'll be recognizing is North - this is his book - but the cast that supports him are just as engaging and entertaining.
The plot is pretty basic. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise. But what it lacks in great plotting, it makes up for in sheer imagination and wonder as described in setting and lore. The places you read of and things the characters do all retain that same sense of dreamlike amazement you might expect from this series.
If there's a real weakness to be had, it's in writing. This is obviously a children's book - you can't even get away with callin it YA. Even with that in mind, the author takes a very "tell don't show" approach. Everything is told very matter of factly, with nothing really left to the imagination. Character feelings are told straight up. And perhaps worse, many times dialogue is completely thrown aside for simply telling what the conversation was about.
Go in expecting the right thing, and you won't be disappointed. Or better yet, get this for your kids. Just don't expect too much feom it.
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These series of books are about the characters who are most important to our childhood! This book focuses on who is Santa Claus and how did he come to be and how does he "protect" us! GREAT BOOK(S)!!!!!!
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I picked up this book as a part of the Magnificently Magic Read-A-Thon* both because it was a book I had been wanting to read and because of how perfectly it fit the criteria. Being as it weighs in at 228 pages and is assuredly lower middle grade might have had something to do with choosing it.
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King is the first book in The Guardians series. It takes place after The Man in the Moon, which is the first book in the picture book companion series, The Guardians of Childhood, also written by William Joyce. (It's a quick read, and I recommend that you read it first.) The Nightmare King, Pitch, escapes his imprisonment after the inadvertent actions of a moonbeam releases an elfish boy made of light encased in a dagger in Pitch's heart. This sets of a chain of events that is the focus of this.
I'm not sure if I've ever said this on the blog, but I have a special place in my heart for middle grade novels. There is rarely any gore, minimal depressive events (before you say anything, I believe Harry Potter 5-7 is YA), and a lovely, magical sense of fun whether there is literal magic or not. Nicholas St. North gives us just that. Joyce & Geringer brilliantly draw the reader into the story, while setting up the world in the novel for the entire series. Where the picture book, The Man in the Moon introduced the reader to Mim, AKA Tsar Lunar, in this novel we meet Nicholas St. North (Santa, perhaps?), Ombric the Wizard, and Katherine, a little foundling girl in Ombric's care. Nightlight, a character and friend of Mim's in The Man in the Moon, makes a reappearance in this novel. The first half of the story is mostly devoted to world-building (which is rich), but the action is exciting once it comes.
This would be a fantastic story for fans of fairy tales or reimaginings, and I highly recommend this book for reluctant readers. There are illustrations scattered throughout the book, and the pacing is gripping and fast enough to hold on to those frustratingly short attention spans. There is also the film adaptation, The Rise of the Guardians, that can be used as a tool to bring readers to Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King and vice versa.
3.5 Stars
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I found this book on a bus. A girl on my schoolbus was reading the second book. I asked her what she was reading and she showed me the cover. I saw the author was William Joyce so I wrote that name in Sharpie on my arm. When I got home I looked up his name on my nook. Then I added every book in the Guardians series to my wishlist. I checked the whole series from the library. On my birthday I bought the series. These books are utterly magical and wonderful. If you love a book with a great story and funny bits of humor then this book is for you.
-ichigo tachikawa
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This is a book that I can read over and over and never get tired of, it's written beautifully and I love I love books in which you can't help but root for the bad guy (North). Also this is a story about a young man who as no memory of the family he used to have who later finds himself through Ombric (a wise - yet loony wizard) and Katherine (a young orphan girl raised by Ombric), then realizing that he is not a theif or a ruffian, but a hero!
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Reason for Reading: Next in the series.Not since "The Spiderwick Chronicles" have I read a children's fantasy aimed at the 7-11 crowd that is so engaging, quality literature with awesome illustrations to bring the story to life. This book is not genre specific as it mixes fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, and fairytale retelling all together until one can't really categorize it. It takes place on our Earth and yet includes creatures from Atlantis and the Moon. As I was reading I often had a feeling of L. Frank Baum's writing style; the book looks and has a voice similar to a 19th/early 20th century children's fantasy, chapters have titles such as " In Which a Twist of Fate Begets a Knot in the Plan" and "Where the Impossible Occurs with Surprising Regularity".The text is large and double-spaced with frequent illustrations so is much shorter than the page numbers would indicate and this does make character development suffer. One never really gets a full sense or deep caring for the characters but I did find the little girl Katharine to be the most fleshed out character and the one I cared for the most. The book ends with the story arc being concluded and yet the overarching story of the series has only just begun, thus it very much has a first in a series feel.However, to clear a little confusion. This is not the first book in the series, even though it is called Book 1. This is a direct sequel to "The Man in the Moon" which is confusingly listed as "The Guardians of Childhood, Book 1". The Man in the Moon is a picture book but characters and events from the book are present and crucial to the story in "Nicholas St. North", so do read it first. Those over 11 may find the book lacking in depth, plot development and characterization as this is not a heavy or detailed read. What it is though, is a fun, whimsical, outlandish fantasy crossed with other genres written to especially appeal to the 7-11 age group and those adults willing to be a kid again. I'm impressed and eager for the next book which will feature the Easter Bunny (excuse me, E. Aster Bunnymund).
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Great story that we read as a family. Can't wait to read Joyce's other books.
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Stinks! Kidding, it is so awesome!
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What a fantastic story! My daughter is a 9 year old "reluctant reader" who wanted no part of this book until
she sat down and started reading it. From the very first chapter she fell in love with it and I think would have
very well read it from cover to cover if I would have let her go without sleeping! This is a terrific story, full of
adventure and action, magic and mystery and my child can't put it down! We've already got the next two
books lined up waiting to read! What a delightful feeling it is to have her excited and anxious to read what happens
next! Well done Mr. Joyce! Thanks for the adventure!
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Jack looked at Tracy with the most dazzling eyes she had ever seen. He said, "Are you lost?" Tracy said, "Well...It's...um...yeah...," in a tiny voice. Suddenly a growl emerged from the blanket of white that was now descending upon her and Jack. She jumped. Another growl emerged. Then another and and another as wolves appeared out of nowhere. But these wolves were like no other. They were black as night, and if Tracy looked hard enough, she would see that they were made of a fine sand. Jack stepped in front of Tracy and said in a commanding voice, "Don't move." Tracy squeaked, "What...are those?" "Nightmares." "What?!" "Pitch must be here." "Who's Pitch?!?" "He must be trying another scheme." "YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!!!!" Suddenly, one of the night-wolves growled. "Shhhh." said Jack. Then, from out of the white nothingness surounding them and the wolves, a larger, stronger wolf, the alpha male, came charging out of its hiding spot, ran towards Tracy like a man possessed, and bit Tracy soundly on the arm! Tracy let out an ear-piercing scream and threw the wolf off her arm. Cluthing her wound, she noticed with horror that the fine sand that made up the wolves was now seeping into her bloodstream. Suddenly, the growls of the wolves seemed distant. She swayed and fell onto the powdered snow. She heard Jack calling to her- "Are you ok?!"- but his voice seemed faint and far away. Her eyelids then just got too heavy to keep open, and she let herself slip into unconciousness.
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Jack saw Tracy fall to the ground. He tried to call her, but he didn't know her name. As she slipped into unconciousness, Jack knew she was in serious danger. He picked her up and called to the wind, saying, "Wind, take me to the Pole!" A sudden gust of wind blew by, carrying Jack and Tracy away from the dangerous wolves. Soon, the North Pole came into view. Jack rushed inside, where North was finishing up designs for a snow-themed train set. Jack ran up to the big, jolly Guardian and said, "We have a big problem."
Part three will be at E. Aster Bunnymund by William Joyce. If you want to read part one, that is at Rise of the Guardians Junior Novel. Tell me what you think. No bad language, please!
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I love it!
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I loved the book so much that I asked my librarian when she got the chance if she could get the second book for me thats how much I loved it!!!!!!!! :)
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