The Treekeepers

by Kieran Larwood, illustrated by Chris Wormell

Interest age: 9 to 11
Reading age: 9 to 11

Published by Faber, 2022

  • Adventure
  • Fantasy
  • Myths and legends
  • Thriller

About this book

Imagine a tree as tall as a mountain and wider than the widest lake. Now fill that tree with life, prosperity and thousands of mages. Each using their specific, magical talent to keep the city of Arborven thriving.

But the Undrentree has a twin; an evil twin. Bitterblight is the shadow tree – a source of poison and death that threatens to overwhelm Arborven and, ultimately, destroy it.

Enter Liska, a shapeshifter, and her friend Lug, who has a seemingly pointless power to control earthworms. When the pair uncover a plot that will see the plague of Bitterblight consuming their world, no-one believes them so they are forced to undertake a perilous quest which may be Arborven’s only hope.

This stunning, complex and wildly imaginative fantasy adventure is a classic tale of good versus evil, triumph over adversity.

The richly drawn characters include a warrior shapeshifter, a lowly worm-charmer, an undead ghost-girl and a hilariously irreverent kittimew (a bit like a talking cat with attitude).

The gruesome evilness of Bitterblight’s spawn is terrifying but the motley band of heroes each discover strengths they didn’t know they had and the story ends with a great sense of completeness.

Utterly compelling; brilliant.

About the author

Kieran Larwood, author of Freaks, was the winner of the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2011. He graduated from Southampton University with a degree in English, and also did a foundation year at Falmouth College of Art. He has been passionate about stories ever since he first read The Hobbit at age six. Kieran is also one of only two male reception class teachers on the Isle of Wight. His days mainly consist of singing nursery rhymes, tying shoelaces, trying to work out who has had an ‘accident’ by sense of smell alone, and vast, endless mountains of paperwork.

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