I simply couldn't get into this one. It bored me. I even tried the audiobook but somehow that was worse (the narrator sounded too much like a grown man. I realise that's probably because it WAS a grown man but something about his voice just didn't work for this book for me). I ended up DNFing

I gave this book to my 10-year-old daughter. She loves a good adventure story but is tough to impress. She loved this modern twist on the Pied Piper of Hamlyn story. Well-written with engaging and entertaining characters, it's a great book for independent young readers.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Age recommendation: 9+

You may have heard of the Pied Piper of Hamelyn but you haven't heard the full story...

Patch Brightwater is a piper that has fallen into disgrace. Thrown in jail for playing a forbidden spell, he's going to spend the rest of his days rotting away. But when the prison is attacked by dragons, Patch is given a chance to escape. In the process, he discovers a deadly truth...

With the help of Wren, a girl cursed to live as a rat, and Barver, a fire-breathing dracogriff, Patch must stop the bloody battle that's about to ensue...

This book ticked off all of the boxes for me. I really liked the characters - they're all so brilliantly written it's really hard to choose a favourite. I love the fact that S.A Patrick took the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelyn and created the incredible world around it. It's got the perfect mixture of danger and daring, friendship and betrayal, light and dark. It's one of those books that you end up reading well into the night, promising yourself, 'Just one more chapter...' I absolutely loved it and I can't wait to start reading book two and find out how the story of Patch, Wren and Barver unfolds.

A wonderful story based on the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, with dragons and magic. A cursed rat, an apprentice Piper, and a dracogriff become friends, and set out to break the curse. But first they must battle sorcerers, dragons, and a mysterious enemy who wants to wreak havoc among the Pipers.

I loved this book! It's a well-written, fantastic adventure story that older children and adults will enjoy, with themes of friendship and some darker moments as well. I will read the sequels, as I want to find out what happens next! Highly recommend.

This is a very promising first book in a series for children, maybe one of the better ones I have tried in the last few years. I could appreciate it as an adult and also felt that the pieces would work well for children as well.
The story leans a lot on to the lore of the Pied Piper and the 'magic' that he wields. Our story begins with one piper trying to rid a town of giant rats. He ends up using a forbidden song. On top of various other things, the latter part leads our protagonist into very hot water. He is a good boy who had many dreams but wanted to use his natural piping skills for the best reasons. His punishment coincides with the revenge of the dragons.
The combination of events has him on a chase to uncover some truths, save his skin and maybe help others in the process. He is assisted by some unique people. There is a vein of humour running through the entire book. The jokes are not very obvious but not too subtle to escape the attention of certain discerning children.
The characters were all realistic. Some of them lied, made mistakes, but they all learn and grow and try to do better whenever they realise what they were doing. It is not done in a preachy way.
I read this book in one sitting because I wanted to see where the story went. There were some parts that I expected and some others that I didn't. There was also one part that I thought I saw coming, was misdirected only to find out that I was right the first time. None of which bothered me much.
I would like to continue with the series if I get the chance.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

First of all Netgalley, thanks for being rude on providing an arc just before christmas and archiving it just after New Years, not giving everyone a chance to read this book. Thankfully a friend had a copy and was rereading it for book two, so after they were done, I could borrow it.

What I loved in this book was the Piper mythology, this is the first one that I ever read as a retelling, and I think it did a great job retelling that story. The story is written as a quest style adventure and I am very happy that, even though it's an MG read, it included some darker themes, because those are definitely not age restricted.

Definitely going to pick up the second book though!

A Darkness of Dragons is an epic twist on a classic fairytale. It is set around the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin and features a cast of unlikely heroes in the form of disgraced piper, Patch; a girl cursed to live as a rat, Wren; and Barver, a fire-breathing cross between a dragon and a hippogriff. It’s a story of friendship and courage, packed with unexpected twists and turns.

I was in awe of S.A. Patrick’s prowess as a master storyteller when reading this book. The way he weaved elements of the classic fairytale into a brand new adventure was sublime. It was a perfect mix of the old and the new. The characters are believable, with their own faults and flaws; the plot is complex and unpredictable; and the back story has clearly been carefully considered.

I’ve stumbled upon A Darkness of Dragons on NetGalley two years after its release and I am delighted to find that I have a second, and very soon a third, adventure in the Songs of Magic series to enjoy. I absolutely adored this book and cannot wait to add a copy to my classroom bookshelf. I think it will very much enrich the reading repertoire of my Year 5/6 pupils as it is very different to anything I’ve read before for this age group.

I received this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This is an enchanting look at fairy tale retellings. I have never heard of a pied piper retelling and loved how they have made this something completely unique.

The pied piper of Hamelin is a disgraced villain of the pied pipers, who are in fact a huge organisation. Our story follows that of Patch, a runaway piper who has started playing illegal songs, is found and placed into prison for hundreds of years… however, is he? This story is a great adventure with a trio of u likely characters becoming friends and trying to solve multiple mysteries. A cursed rat, wren and dracogriffin join our piper Patch as he runs from his past and uncovers terrible secrets.

This was a fun and enjoyable book and the ending has definitely left me needing to know more. The waits and turns have been unexpected too. Maybe I’m not in the right mood for the book today, so didn’t give it a higher rating. But it definitely was an adventure story that leaves you wanting to find out more. I liked that it’s based around the pipers and there is not just one linear arc. I do wish there was a bit more setting desorption. Despite the book feeling quite slow, there was often times that it felt like the characters were just jumping from one thing to another too.

As a lover of fantasy and an English teacher I love this book! Who does love a tale of magic, sorcerers, and dragons? Then add in the re-telling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I'm in. I was given a copy of this story for my honest opinion and I will 100% be purchasing this book for my class library.

I was half-expecting something a bit too child-oriented, but in fact I haven't been this gripped by a children's book since I fell under the spell of "Ink Heart" and "The Lighting Thief" at 11 years old. In a similar way, this keeps you turning the pages and wanting to know more about these characters. A resourceful boy who always tries to do the best, despite many decisions going wrong; and a very complex young lady, become best friends despite torments and perils. They are joined by the only adult in the central trio, but he very unusual.
This book is well worth a read for fantasy lovers of all ages, and to all who enjoy good story-telling. Can't wait for my students to read it!

This was AMAZING! I’m both mad at myself & glad I waited so long to read this! Mad because it’s so good, I wish I had read it sooner! Glad because now I can dive right into the sequel! You don’t see many retellings of the Pied Piper, usually it’s the more popular ones done a lot (& I love every single kind). I think I’ve only read 1 other, so this was already doing a great job being different in that alone. Then the author's writing, his characters, this world, this magic…brilliant! Patch is thrown in jail after playing (he’s a Piper) a forbidden spell-song to save a village from rats. But there he meets Wren- a noble-girl under a rat-shaped curse-& together they befriend Barver, a fearsome dracogriff (genius!), & set off on a grand adventure filled with sorcerers, dragons, bandits…& one very deadly enemy. This was so fast-paced, & so brilliantly written, that I flew through it. This ragtag group of friends, is the most unlikely found family I’ve ever seen, & I love them all so much. Watching their bond grow was beautiful. This world is so unlike our own in many ways, but the author makes you feel like this place really exists-where dragons have their own government, sorcerers have their dark magic, Pipers make magic with their music…I found the author's take on the infamous Piper so fascinating! & the twist! Loved it, & never would have guessed. I found the Elite Pipers so intriguing, & all the different levels of pipers & what their special skills were used for. The Eight & their whole story was also so interesting. Every detail of this book draws you in, & you get more & more engrossed in the story. Great pacing, great world/character/story building. The author is so talented at creating such an amazing story that you care about, & also is so talented at giving you characters that you really fall in love with and root for with your entire heart. There’s action, adventure, danger, suspense, friendship, magic, dragons, sorcerers, witches, Pipers, & even humour. When Barver “raises a hand” & says he wants to clarify the rules of engagement, I laughed so hard. He definitely has my heart. Wren is also such a remarkable character. I love the way they are able to “talk” to her-genius. Patch is also just the best. This story has it all, & the relationship between the trio is my favourite thing. Highly recommend! Absolutely beautiful cover by George Ermos too! 💜

Having been hooked into several series by the stunning artwork of illustrator George Ermos, I found myself irresistibly drawn to this title on Net Galley a week or two ago. The promise of dragons and adventure in addition to the gorgeous front cover was too good for me to miss, and after reading a few stories which could not be described as fantasies, felt in need of returning to my favourite fiction genre.

While not a short read at 400 pages, this is a book which confident readers in upper KS2 and KS3 will devour – packed as it is with excitement, magic and the most wonderfully drawn characters that I have encountered in a while. With the third in this popular series, A Thunder of Monsters, hitting the shelves in January 2022, now is the perfect time to pick up this title and immerse yourself within its pages if – like me – you are new to these stories, with plenty of time then to read A Vanishing of Griffins between the two.

In the cold, quiet mountain village of Patterfall, the peace of its inhabitants is broken by the appearance of a tall, snowy figure which approaches the village, scattering the panicked children. Fearing that it is the legendary Ice Beast, the adults try to head it off, resulting in an Elder hitting it hard over the head with a shovel, rendering it unconscious. Rather than the subdued creature being a terrible monster, however, it is soon clear that it is a teenaged boy, one with a Pipe in one of his pockets.

When the boy comes to, he appears to have lost his memory but is identifiable through his name – Patch Brightwater – being sewn into his coat, triggering memories of his grandmother who stitched it there. As parts of his memory come back, Patch realises he is a Piper and the villagers assume he has come in response to their pleas for help. When he discovers that the village has been plagued by rats, he tries his hardest to use his skills to get rid of them, but things go wrong and Patch finds himself not only in a whole load of trouble, but thrown into prison with no chance of escaping, close to the already captive Piper of Hamelyn, who has been held since his actions a decade previously led to the people of that town losing their beloved children.

With no way to prove his innocence, and in despair at the prospect of his solitary confinement, Patch is taken aback when he is visited by a rat who can not only write but can communicate through sign language, and tells him that she is in fact a human called Wren who has been cursed to live as a rat. As the two of them start to get to know one another better, the opportunity for Patch to escape presents itself and the two of them flee together. Determined to find a cure for the curse, and in the hopes of winning himself a fortune and an easier life, Patch sets out with Wren to try to turn her back. But he finds that their mission is not as straightforward as he had at first hoped, and when one problem leads to another and then another, he soon realises that there is more going on than just the need to return Wren to human form…

The tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelyn is such a brilliant – and well-known – starting point for this story, with its ending that does not reveal what the fate of the children that he stole away was. Here, where the music of the Pipers has the power to work all kinds of magic – both good and evil – and Patch has the best of intentions in his actions in Patterfall, his inexperience leads him not only to mess up but to end up in big trouble as a result. As he travels with Wren, he finds himself involved in more conundrums than he envisaged as he learns more about the terrible crimes of the Piper of Hamelyn, and is forced to use not only the magical musical talents that he has, but also his intelligence and puzzle-solving skills.

In Wren, and slightly later on in another friend that he makes, Patch is truly blessed. With very different strengths and weaknesses, the three of them complement one another perfectly and it is brilliant to see their weaknesses laid bare so clearly here. For all three of them, difficult decisions must be made and actions taken that are greatly affected by their individual abilities and personalities, and I loved the three of them all the more as a result.

As I said earlier, the third in this series is due to be published in January 2022 and if you haven’t as yet caught up with these books, I urge you to do so. Exciting, thought-provoking and with mystery, magic and adventure in abundance, this is perfect for confident readers in Year 5 upwards and I absolutely loved it. Enormous thanks go to publisher Usborne and to Net Galley for my virtual read of this title, originally published in 2018. A fantastic 5 out of 5 stars.