Beneath A Thousand Skies

Summary:

Buddy is no ordinary teddy bear.

He’s a Knight, crafted by The Nameless Wizard himself, and sworn to protect his Person, 10-year old Mieya, from all the Things-That-Go-Bump-In-The-Night.

When Mieya is cursed into a magical sleep, it’s up to Buddy and his friends Esteban the Bard, Sasha the Warrior-Princess, and Copper the Butterfly to journey across The Realm-Under-The-Bed and find the one responsible.

But this is no ordinary Quest. The Realm is a dangerous place, filled with jungles, deserts, lightning storms, and Monsters. But worst of all is The Queen of Sorrow who waits for them in her dark castle in the crags. To break her curse, Buddy will need more than his skill with a blade, Esteban’s witty songs, or Sasha’s ferocious might.

He’ll need Heart.

‘This is how all great adventures begin. By taking the first step, and then the next, and the one after that, until the journey is done.’

Is this a book I would have loved when I was 9-12? Possibly not, because I was never a child who enjoyed Toy Story or particularly thought about what my toys got up to when I wasn’t there. But it is absolutely a book that the me of today would love if I went back to that age; and part of me wishes that I could go back and find a favourite teddy and explore the Realm-under-the-Bed and listen to tales of monsters and the Queen of Sorrows and the Knights that have come before. It’s also a book that as an adult I have thoroughly enjoyed, because while David has created a whimsical, heart-filled tale for a younger audience, the wisdom that runs through it, and the nostalgia that is woven into the key moments is something that can and will resonate regardless of the age of the reader.

Buddy the Knight and the Queen of Sorrow feels like one of those stories that could sow an early love of epic fantasy and great quests in a young mind, without losing sight of the modern, and the familiar, because Buddy is all those soft toys that are best friends and shields against the night. It also calls to mind Arthurian myths and legends with the flashbacks to old lives that Buddy has although they are not recognised as such, the Nameless Wizard (who I will admit was quickly named ‘Merlin’ in my head as I was reading and the idea of knighthood and heroism; or perhaps because I’ve been rewatching it a lot recently for research it also called to mind the Old Code in Dragonheart and the memorable  ‘A Knight is sworn to valour.’ There is a timeless feel to this story, that makes it feel like one that could be read over and over and over through the generations.

The worldbuilding is fantastic, and David fleshed out a world that revolved around the idea of toys and their People and the wishes and whimsies of children; and in the Realm-under-the-Bed we are given a world that felt almost Ghibli-esque with a Tim Burton twist. There was the whimsy and the wonder – I absolutely loved The Desert of Lost Wishes, and how as far as we ventured into this new realm, step after step, there was always a thread running back to the ‘real world’; but there was also that darker edge (fitting for everyone who has ever imagined a monster under the bed), and what is unsettling to an adult is just the perfect dollop of scary for the intended audience. What I particularly enjoyed was that the threats, whether environmental or due to the dwellers of each region was so integral to both that region, but also the progression of the quest; because it made the threat more real, because when swept up in the adventure it was sometimes possible to forget the trickle of time running out, or the thread guiding the way; but the challenges Buddy and the others faced were so well written that you couldn’t help but get caught up in the stakes – and I may have cheered in celebration at one point (or more).

What really made this book shine though are the personal journeys the characters go through while on this epic quest; and how David has built them in so that each one will not only resonate as much with the reader as it does with the character, but each step and realisation comes to bear at the end of the journey. From learning to be yourself, even if the world and others want to see you differently, to exploring the ideas of loyalty and friendship and courage, and the nature of the heart and the mind, Buddy the Knight and the Queen of Sorrow is as much a human journey as it is a fantastical one. I love also that it is reflected in the characters – because while Buddy is absolutely the hero of our story, he would not have got to where he did without his friends; Sasha is a warrior-princess and a danger from the start, but she needed the encouragement of friends to truly shine, and Copper showed that strength and courage could overcome anything and that the acceptance of the others, meant the ties to remain where stronger than the call to soar in freedom. While Esteban who originally was the character I struggled with the most, was the one that I felt for most at the end, because to have the courage and the trust to go on this quest with the knowledge he carried and to face the consequences was both heart-wrenching and heart-warming.

The Queen of Sorrows might have been the villain of this story and felt like a blend of the boogeyman under the bed and the Evil Queen of fairytale, again leaning into that scary element in the Realm-under-the-Bed. But, I love that David did not leave it at that, instead we got to explore how she had come to be the way that she was, in a way that it did not retract from how bad her actions were but made her more understandable. If the other characters showed the power of friendship and communication, with the lessons learnt from one another, and what Buddy had been told by the Nameless wizard, then the Queen of Sorrows was the one borne out of poor communication and a lack of friendship.

Buddy the Knight and the Queen of Sorrow is a fantastic middle-grade fantasy, with a heart as soft as its titular hero and elements that will appeal to readers of all ages.