The Beast of Buckingham Palace

David Walliams never disappoints. His only his unique imagination and sense of humor could produce a group of revolutionary grannies who man a submarine in the Thames in dystopian London. My 10 year old and I are hooked.

This book was amazingly good and also an age up from walliams usual ages of 7 and up this is definitely 9 and up

What worked:Prince Alfred is an unlikely hero in this dystopian novel. Alfred’s a weak, sickly boy who’s never left Buckingham Palace to see what life is like beyond the fortress walls. He can barely walk across his bedroom without losing his breath, so his transformation later is remarkable, until readers realize what’s happening. Many areas of the castle are off-limits to Alfred, by order of the Lord Protector, but he’s learned a lot about England’s history from the library’s books that he’s been given. The queen calls Alfred “Lionheart”, and his courage and leadership become evident as the situation with the revolutionaries becomes direr.The template for the plot is familiar, so it’s easy to follow and make predictions. The king is being manipulated by an evil antagonist, and a harmless young boy is forced to become the hero. The antagonist plans to use an ancient spell to unleash tremendous power that will allow him to rule the entire world. He has control over everything, even the royal family, so stopping him may be impossible. The confusing destruction across London becomes clear once the antagonist’s plans are uncovered.The story includes some unique twists to make things interesting. It’s set in the future after humans have ruined Earth through global warming and abusing its resources. Alfred’s father is the king of England, but the people feel oppressed and rebel against his rule. The book mostly feels like it’s centuries in the past, except the castle guards carry ray guns and robots roam the halls. One robot spies on everyone inside Buckingham Palace, and another inept robot slowly loses its eight limbs, adding some humor to the events. Alfred receives funny, very unexpected assistance late in the book, but it’s critical to saving England.What didn’t work as well:As mentioned earlier, the structure of the plot is very familiar, but that makes the overall book seem less creative. The dialogue between characters is rather basic, and the action scenes include sound effects that might remind readers of the old Batman television show. “Bang! Bash! Bonk!” The dialogue and sound effects aren’t a big problem, but they feel out of place when compared to the overall, imaginative story.The Final Verdict:Boy versus Beast. Prince Alfred’s quest to save the kingdom will entertain most middle-grade readers with its elements from the past, present, and future. Alfred’s character remains unassuming throughout, but his determination to save his parents is inspiring. I recommend you give it a shot.

This book was so suspenceful and fun to read. May be best to keep it to children 9 and up, because there is murder and fighting. Definitely worth the money and a great read.

Amazing but a lot of murdur and fights.David really went all out this time.Usually his books are for kids but this one is definitely for ages 10 and above.Me being 16 loved this book.The Beast Of Buckingham Palace is amazing

I'm glad I read this one before my kids. There is a sex joke in chapter 3 disguised as latin counting. Kids won't (or shouldn't) understand it, but the fact it's in there makes me not trust anything this man will or has written.

it is good for mature people as there is torture and mutdur and lots of humans getting shot i would not recommend it to annyone under nine and just as thing arent all death someone has to get shot

My 2 daughters, 8 and 10 read this during Christmas. Ten year old read it in one evening - says it was OK. Given the amount of large text and repetition it could easily have been squeezed into 30 pages. Very accessible for 7-8 year olds but not enough to interest or stretch readers. I had the mission of reading it with my 8 eight year old having lost the coin toss with my wife. I dreaded every minute of it as it is really atrocious in every possible way. At least DWs books are consistently terrible and consistency can be considered a desirable quality in some situations.

This book is wonderful! David Walliams has really outdone himself with The Beast of Buckingham Palace; it is filled with mystery, adventure, heroes and villains, brilliant characters (poor Octobut!), gorgeous illustrations throughout and the setting is fantastic - aren't we all just a little bit intrigued by Buckingham Palace? There are some beautiful lessons about friendship, loyalty and bravery, with an enjoyable sprinkling of real history which I particularly loved. I had to include a picture of the stunning artwork under the dust jacket, absolutely gorgeous. I cannot imagine anybody not enjoying this story, it's suitable for all!

The book was amazing, a tale of friendship, bravery and loyalty. A truly heart-warming story, though it does not give us very high hopes for the future. Highly recommended for children of all ages

Another amazing story from David Walliams!! I have bought this for my daughter for Christmas but I couldn’t wait that long so read it myself first. Finished in two days as I couldn’t put it down! Such a great author!!

So good so far, I'll definitely have this finished tonight - I'm engrossed.These books I think are aimed more for kids/teens, I'm in my 40's and LOVING David Walliams books, along with this book I bought the Box set which I intend on reading then giving to my Daughter who in turn will give them to her daughter.The print is a good size also which I'm glad of (at my age lol )Will update this review once I have finished the book.UPDATED=Very good storyline, very hard to put down. I'd have loved to have known how the Prince got the Country back on its feet etc, lol.Also, after I had finished the book I put it in my book case and the next day my other half came in to tell me he had found a really good book he was reading in the bookcase and proceeded to tell me about it and how good it was. He didn't realise it was the book I had recently bought.5 stars!