Have you read either The Letter for the King or The Secrets of the Wild Wood by Tonke Dragt? Post your feedback by 16 September for chance to win £100 Love2Shop Voucher!

I read the secrets of the wild wood to my DD8 and she absolutely loved it- and I have to say so did I. This was right up her street, magical and descriptive with plenty of mystery.

Many thanks to Mumsnet / Pushkin Children’s Books for a copy of 'The Secrets Of The Wild Wood' by Tonke Dragt. I had not read the first story, but I opened this one with real anticipation, even though I was slightly sceptical as to how well it would be translated.

The adventure follows Tiuri, the hero who, in the first book, completed the perilous mission to deliver ‘The Letter for The King’. Tiuri has been knighted for his feats. He sets off with his squire and best friend, Piak, to fulfil the acceptance of an old invitation from Sir Ristridin to meet up again. However, Ristridin has not been seen since last Winter. And the quest to locate him will lead Tiuri and Piak deep into the heart of the accursed Wild Woods.

An action-packed fable aimed at older children/young adults. Filled with princesses and knights-in-shining-armour, mysteries and ancient curses, the writing is incredibly imaginative. The themes are brought to life with meticulously constructed descriptive language. At over 500 pages, it will take a committed read, but most readers will find that it's worth it.

DS 9 read the Letter to the King and he is not the most enthusiastic reader, but he made a choice to read it at bedtime which is great. It did take him a while to finish it as it is pretty long, but he often chatted about the characters and was even inspired to make some drawings of some of the scenes at his art club.

He is really looking forward to reading the Secrets of the Wild Wood next.

After posting a review for "The Letter for the King", which we received in the book giveaway, we bought the sequel: "The Secrets of the Wild Wood". It is not a short book, but my 9yo ds has already read it. He has loved both of these books and his review of the second is below.

"Tiuri is one of King Dagonaut's Knights. He is invited to Sir Arturin's castle to see Sir Arturin's brother Sir Ristridin, but when Sir Ristridin doesn't show up, Tiuri and his squire Piak must journey into the Wild Wood to find him.

The Wild Wood is a mysterious place where danger lurks around every corner. Tiuri hears rather peculiar tales, meets robbers and Men in Green. Tiuri is separated from Piak and finds himself alone, fighting for survival with no one he can trust.

It is just as compelling as the Letter To The King and I wish there was a third book.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️"

My 10 year old son started reading this last week and is ploughing through it.
He's not the most vocal when it comes to describing books to me, but the fact that he has been reading it in the daytime (shock, horror) when he could be on his bike outside is pretty telling!

He has told me that it's interesting, gripping and I think because the hero is an older boy, it's cool. He clearly wants to know more. He wants to buy the other book after we've finished this one.
He has been sneaking his bedside lamp on after lights out time 'so that I can finish one more chapter.'

Thank you Mumsnet for this. I'll be reading it after him.

These were a bit different and were thoroughly enjoyed!😃

We received this book in the Mumsnet giveaway, which was great as it had been on my list of books to get for my son for a while.

I have not read this book, but my 9 year old ds raced through this book on holiday and loved it. He is a fairly advanced reader for his age and it posed no problems. It is over 500 pages in length but doesn't use overly complex vocabulary so I think that slightly younger readers who are not daunted by longer books could also potentially tackle it as well as older children into their teens. I think any child who has read and enjoyed the Harry Potter books could enjoy this as it is a page turning adventure with friends facing challenges together with perhaps a similar reading ability required...

My son's review:

"Sixteen year old Tiuri has been sent on a mission to deliver a very important and secret letter to King Unauwen. This thrilling story describes his perilous journey between the Kingdoms of Dagonaut and Unauwen as he faces many challenges as others try to stop him.

This is a thrilling, and emotional, read with moments of joy and sadness. I enjoyed this book because it got me hooked from the start and kept me enthralled until the last page. I am already planning to read the next book: The Secrets of the Wild Wood. I would give it five stars".

This is an impressively thick book for a child to try. Dd8 seemed a bit overwhelmed to even start, but has shown interest since reading the blurb & watching me get into reading it.

It is a quest-type of story with lots of interesting characters & settings. It reminded me of the Lord of the Rings series. The plot was a bit predictable in places and lots of questions remain unanswered, so I look forward to reading the sequel.

I've just bought Secrets of the Wild Wood. Thanks again!

I am so happy these books have been translated! I haven't seen a copy and I hope they contain at least some of the illustrations. Tonke Dragt did wonderful drawings and they fit beautifully with the story. I grew up on these stories. I went to school in the Netherlands in the seventies, and my teachers loved these books. Miss Hadders and Mr Bekkering read to us every day, at the end of the afternoon and the whole class loved these books. We were riveted! I have read everything she wrote and still have an old copy of a collection of mysterious stories my sister gave me for my birthday.

The book was a real hit with my children. We have just returned from our annual holiday and am pleased that 2 of my 3 children thoroughly enjoyed it. I am now going to read the book (Letter to the King) to see if I enjoy it as much as they did. The kids were warned not to give too much away!! All I know is that is is 'cool and clever' and 'exciting, clever and interesting'. I can't wait!

I bought my son The Letter...for Christmas, having read great reviews online. He enjoyed it, so I was very pleased to win a free copy of The Secrets of the Wild Wood. We have just started reading it aloud to him, he listens intently. Even as an adult, I find it compelling.

This wouldn't be one of the books I would normally choose, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very easy to get into the zone as the descriptions were nicely written. It is filled with adventure and friendship and is different enough to stay with you for long time after reading. When my son is older I shall introduce him to both books as I think he will appreciate it more as a 7-8 year old.

Not the sort of book I would normally go for which is why I love this site - love how it has me reading different books. I didnt like it as much as other genres but read it anyway its just really different to what I usually read. Gonna give it to my daughter and see if its any better for her x

I am sorry I missed this giveaway (an opportunity to read part two ) as I was lucky to receive a copy of A Letter to the King on a mumsnet giveaway a few years ago when it was first published in hard back. I thought it was a high quality work of fiction which bridges the gap between children's/young person's fiction. The quest and friendship themes are reminiscent of more familiar popular fiction such as the Harry Potter series which goes to show that these themes haven't aged at all. I recall reading about the author who was determined to create a compelling children's series in the idiom of her own country (I think she was familiar with the work of Tolkein/Lewis). As an adult reader I was very moved by sections and read it in one sitting (4-5 hours!) I then regifted it to a young person and hope the enjoyed it too.

My daughter has finished this book and really enjoyed it. She loved the historical context of the book and the fast pace of the story. Thank you for the copy.

Received a copy of Letter for the King as book sounded interesting and can't say I've been disappointed. The dialogue is engaging between the characters and the action fast. It's perhaps a bit advanced for my 6 yr old daughter at the moment but won't be long before I'll be reading along with her (and won't be a book I'll mind doing that with..unlike some others such as the Hobbit that are just so boring at the start!). Thank you for sending the copy

Thank you for sending through the letter for the king - DS1 (10) has started it but is only half way through. He's really enjoying it and all the twists and turns and describes it as an exciting quest and mystery wrapped into one.

I chose "The Letter for the King" as my teenage DDs haven't read anything by this author before. We enjoyed taking it in turns to read it aloud to each other and all thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns in the story as it progressed. Thank you, Mumsnet, for giving us the opportunity to read and review this exciting book.

I acquired a second hand copy of this a while ago intending to give it to my son - then I picked it up myself and was quickly gripped by the story. It was an easy read, without the long descriptive passages that can slow a story down, but with enough detail to help build up a good mental picture of the characters and setting. A great adventure story with much adversity for the hero to overcome. I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Took my copy of The Letter for the King on holiday as a surprise for my son (12) so that he'd have something good to read on rainy days, of which we had a few (there's the Scottish west coast for you). Son grumbled when given it, but half an hour later was rapt - and read it all sprawling on different chairs in our cottage over the next two days. Here's his review (slightly edited):

"The Letter for the King was an interesting book because it was sort of historical fiction and sort of fantasy. The reason it wasn't historical fiction was because it wasn't set in a real place in the world but there weren't wizards and dragons and spells to make it fantasy.

"The story is about a young squire who's in the chapel waiting for the morning when he will become a knight but a mysterious stranger asks him to deliver a letter to the black knight with the white shield who is staying in a nearby inn - but when he gets there he finds the knight has been murdered...

"It was a well-written and gripping story since you did want to know what happened next and there were a lot of people trying to chase him and stop the letter going through.

"And even though I am a quick reader it was big enough to keep me occupied for a long time but it was not as boring as Lord of the Rings. I was a very interesting book and I would definitely recommend it."

A fabulous book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and my son is wading through it now (he's not a great reader, but the fact that he's still at it is an excellent sign.) I received my copy from Mumsnet and appreciate that greatly, though that has no bearing on my review. A well written story, a classic tale of adventure, with plenty of heroes and villains, it kept me gripped in its thrall right to the end. A first class experience and so now I'm on the look out for the next in the series.

We received a copy of 'The Secrets of The Wild Wood' which is the sequel to 'The Letter For The King', it is a fantastic and thrilling read, especially for older children - I highly recommend it, just as good as the first book.

I applied for The Letter for the King for myself (DS is 6) as I find myself enjoying more and more fiction aimed at teens. I held off on reading it until the email reminded me so I could have enough time to read it on holiday. I started it this morning and finished it before dinner so DH spent most of the day in the pool with DS instead of me Its a really good read, great characters, lots of well written action and a real page turner. I will definitely be getting the next book in the series (on Kindle so I can read it straight away)