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At the end of Zizou Corder's best-selling Lionboy, Charlie Ashanti--a boy who could speak `cat'--was left aboard the Orient Express bound for Venice. In his company are a prehistoric beast and six lions he helped free from a Floating Circus in Paris and from the clutches of a nasty, mysterious Lion trainer called Maccomo. Next door to him on the train is a friendly Bulgarian King called Boris who has taken Charlie and the lions under his protection. Charlie's parents have been kidnapped by the agents of the sinister Corporacy, probably for inventing the cure to Asthma, so he must find them, and the lions would like to return to their ancestral home in Morocco. It is under these circumstances that Corder's Lionboy trilogy embarks upon its latest chapter. What a beginning! Charlie and the Lions get to Venice and become involved in a revolution there. Charlie has the brilliant idea of introducing Primo, the giant Smilodon, to the Doge, as a cover for an escape attempt. After all, he has the lions of St Mark's, or at least their statues. The Venetians think that Charlie is an Angel and that the mysterious creature is sent by God to save them. But there's still Rafi Sadler to deal with, implicated in Charlie's kidnap, and the furious Maccomo the lion-tamer. Add a shipwreck, a really good chameleon called Ninu, and a few more shocking surprises and you've got the recipe for a stunningly entertaining sequel and riotously good yarn. Corder's stories are action-packed and great fun to read. They're pure adventure for young readers with not the slightest whiff of a `crossover' accusation coming anywhere near them. The concluding volume, Lionboy: The Truth, should be a corker. (Age 9 and over) --John McLay
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