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Leo's Map Of Monsters #3
Liam en de monsters - Het verschrikkelijke spookpaard
It's Leo's job as the Guardian's apprentice to protect the village from the monsters that lurk in the surrounding forest. Whenever a monster gets too close to the village walls Leo must venture out, using his magical map to first find the monster and then do battle with it.
In this book, Leo must track down the ghostly Frightmare-a powerful monster that haunts the abandoned ruins, breathing deadly blue fire at any intruder.
In this book, Leo must track down the ghostly Frightmare-a powerful monster that haunts the abandoned ruins, breathing deadly blue fire at any intruder.
160 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2023
13 people want to read
About the author
Kris Humphrey
12 books8 followersKris Humphrey is the author of the Guardians of the Wild fantasy series for young readers.
Hailing from a medium-sized city in the far south-west of England, Kris grew up with the sea on one side and the beautiful bleakness of Dartmoor on the other. Despite moving around the country and doing his fair share of interesting jobs (cinema projectionist, blood factory technician, bookseller...) he has always been writing - or at least thinking about writing - or at least pretending to be thinking about writing. In 2012 Kris graduated from the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, winning the award for Most Promising Writer. He now lives in south-east London.
Hailing from a medium-sized city in the far south-west of England, Kris grew up with the sea on one side and the beautiful bleakness of Dartmoor on the other. Despite moving around the country and doing his fair share of interesting jobs (cinema projectionist, blood factory technician, bookseller...) he has always been writing - or at least thinking about writing - or at least pretending to be thinking about writing. In 2012 Kris graduated from the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University, winning the award for Most Promising Writer. He now lives in south-east London.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 14, 2023
In the third book of Leo's Map of Monsters series, Leo's village is set to celebrate their yearly Spring festival, a night of festivities filled with food, games, dancing and singing. Leo is especially excited because Henrik gave him the night off so he could attend with his best friend Jacob. That is until the village chief, Gilda arrives and tells him he is desperately needed once again to save their village from an encroaching monster. Swiftly Leo tells a little white lie to Jacob and heads out for the Guardians cabin in the woods, unbeknown to him he is being followed. Leo is given his next assignment to capture the Grass Gulper, who is making its way toward their village. Unfortunately, he will only have one chance to capture it, as he only has one Shrinking Stone left, so he will need to make sure that his shot counts. Assisting Leo once again is Starla, a leatherwing who has the unique ability of communicating her thoughts directly into Leo's head. And as a new surprise, Leo discovers that he was followed by none other than Jacob, who is injured when the Grass Gulper attacks. Seeing this as an opportunity to work with his friend hunting monsters, Leo hopes that Henrik will train Jacob too, but can they trust him with this secret? Or must he resort to taking a hair from the legendary Frightmare's tail in order to take away Jacob's memories of being in the forest for good?
Seeing this as his only option, Leo agrees to hunt down the Frightmare, but getting a hair from the Frightmare's tail is more difficult than you would think. They can disappear at will, making it challenging to get a shot off in time. They're also enveloped in blue flames and fog which makes it difficult to approach them. They're aggressive and vehemently protective of their territory. Plus, their mighty hoofbeats are frightening, especially when they come charging at you during an attack. Hoping to escape just those attacks, Leo ventures into the ruins surrounding the Frightmare's domain only to find himself in a very dark space, which truthfully was unnerving. Leo certainly had his hands full in this story. I'd say this was his most dangerous mission yet and exemplifies just how brave Leo is.
Seeing this as his only option, Leo agrees to hunt down the Frightmare, but getting a hair from the Frightmare's tail is more difficult than you would think. They can disappear at will, making it challenging to get a shot off in time. They're also enveloped in blue flames and fog which makes it difficult to approach them. They're aggressive and vehemently protective of their territory. Plus, their mighty hoofbeats are frightening, especially when they come charging at you during an attack. Hoping to escape just those attacks, Leo ventures into the ruins surrounding the Frightmare's domain only to find himself in a very dark space, which truthfully was unnerving. Leo certainly had his hands full in this story. I'd say this was his most dangerous mission yet and exemplifies just how brave Leo is.
October 11, 2022
A fun adventure with Leo training to be a Guardian to protect his village from monsters that lie beyond the walls. His map reminded me a bit of the Marauder’s Map in Harry Potter, where the monsters are visible with different lights. His defenses aren’t magic spells, but stones that he must hit the monsters with using a slingshot.
I enjoyed this adventure and Leo showed the traits of trustworthiness, honesty (when needing to report to the head Guardian), and bravery. Shows the importance of friendship both with his fun, flying monster companion, and when he’s caring for the friend that sneaks into the woods after him. Jacob (the friend), is in danger because Leo didn’t check to make sure he wasn’t followed into the woods, and Leo owns this mistake instead of casting the blame elsewhere.
All great positive character traits, adventure that will make the 1st-5th kids happy, and a very fun presentation with the pages and illustrations. Can’t wait to read the other three!
*some magical and fantasy elements present, but no actual spell-casting, which I know makes some people unsettled when selecting books for their kids.
I enjoyed this adventure and Leo showed the traits of trustworthiness, honesty (when needing to report to the head Guardian), and bravery. Shows the importance of friendship both with his fun, flying monster companion, and when he’s caring for the friend that sneaks into the woods after him. Jacob (the friend), is in danger because Leo didn’t check to make sure he wasn’t followed into the woods, and Leo owns this mistake instead of casting the blame elsewhere.
All great positive character traits, adventure that will make the 1st-5th kids happy, and a very fun presentation with the pages and illustrations. Can’t wait to read the other three!
*some magical and fantasy elements present, but no actual spell-casting, which I know makes some people unsettled when selecting books for their kids.
February 20, 2023
This one is pretty exciting ngl. Leo's friend Jacob follows him into the forest and discovers his secret apprenticeship and the secrets of the forest. Because he's such a gossip, Leo must retrieve a hair from the Frightmare's tail in order to concoct the potion that will wipe Jacob's short-term memory. This means Leo must pass into the territorial Frightmare's territory and get close enough undetected to pluck a hair from the monster! I was on the edge of my seat.
May 3, 2023
I love this series!!
July 27, 2023
I feel like they lean really hard into keeping secrets and lying in this book, and that is something I hope they rectify in book 4.
January 10, 2024
Read aloud with R. Jan. '24.
It's OK, illustrations a little spooky.
It's OK, illustrations a little spooky.
June 4, 2025
Another fun installment of Leo's Map of Monsters. This time Leo's followed out on monster duty by his best friend and in order to erase his memories of seeing the monsters (because his friend cannot keep a secret) Leo and Starla head off to find the legendary Frightmare and get a piece of it's tail. Enjoyable as usual.
June 12, 2023
Het nieuwste deel in de serie en ik heb genoten. Al vond ik het wel verwarrend hoe het een Gruwschimmel heette en ook spookpaard. Kies een van de woorden, niet beide. XD Maar wel een spannend verhaal en hey, ondanks het LIAM WILDER dit en LIAM WILDER dat van Starla viel ze deze keer voor een keer mee. Goed, nog steeds kutopmerkingen van haar kant, maar ach iets minder zeurderig, I will take it. Verder vond ik het sneu voor Jakob, maar ook wel enorm dom van hem.
Leuk festival, tof einde. Nu wil ik het volgende deel.
ENGLISH:
The third book in the Leo’s Map of Monsters series, this time a festival, a secret exposed, and new monsters!
OMG, I was so excited when I saw the newest book over one of my libraries! I really enjoy this series (well, except for Starla). I was curious about the monster (the one we see on the cover) and also what else we would get! EEP!
In this book it is festival time and I was eager to be part of the festival along with Leo (who still is strangely called Liam in Dutch), but we all know that being a watcher is a job that requires someone to be on stand-by for all day. And yep. Leo is called to help out! There is something lurking in the forest, something big, and it is up to Leo to fix it. I was curious to see what kind of critter it was going to be, and if Leo would be able to get it in the jar (yes, don’t ask). But what happens next is even more OMG, because Leo’s best friend is suddenly there as well. Yep. You can imagine that it throws off Leo, because the secret has to be safe! I was a bit on the fence if I liked this whole thing or not. On the one hand, it was finally time because dang how did Leo keep it for that long without anyone following him? But on the other hand, was it really necessary to be the best friend? Or that it really had to come out?
Oh well, I am happy with how things went eventually, because Leo now has to find a special ingredient for his master to make a potion so that person will forget all about what he has seen. And heard. Because they don’t want the whole town finding out that monsters are real. You don’t want chaos. And I loved that this meant some more questions, because those ruins really show us something and I would love to get more deets on that. Plus, the monster, the Frightmare, was just so cool and at times quite scary. I mean, a blue horse that breathes fire and will burn you if you get close? Oh yes! And guess what, Leo has to get some hairs from that one. Which reminded me of that episode of Gravity Falls. XD Things got really excited and I loved that Starla and Leo worked together and that Leo had some great ideas.
Starla, we all know that she is NOT my favourite character and heavily reminds me of one of the annoying things on Earth, namely… Navi. LEO WALKER LEO WALKER. LORD, girl, just shut up. But in this one she did get a bit less annoying. Not by a whole lot, but she was a bit more tolerable in this one. There is still a lot of improvement to have though.
However in Dutch the monster was called both Gruwschimmel and Spookpaard. At one point I thought it was two different creatures, until my head finally realised that, oh yes, schimmel is another word for horse/it is a kind of horse. XD I would have preferred the Dutch translation to just keep it to one word to just make it a bit more clear.
The ending made me smile and I am definitely curious what other things Leo’s master can do!
All in all, I did have a lot of fun reading this one. I loved the storylines, love the monsters, but I do hope that Leo’s master gets a bit nicer, and understand that Leo is really doing his best.
Review first posted https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Leuk festival, tof einde. Nu wil ik het volgende deel.
ENGLISH:
The third book in the Leo’s Map of Monsters series, this time a festival, a secret exposed, and new monsters!
OMG, I was so excited when I saw the newest book over one of my libraries! I really enjoy this series (well, except for Starla). I was curious about the monster (the one we see on the cover) and also what else we would get! EEP!
In this book it is festival time and I was eager to be part of the festival along with Leo (who still is strangely called Liam in Dutch), but we all know that being a watcher is a job that requires someone to be on stand-by for all day. And yep. Leo is called to help out! There is something lurking in the forest, something big, and it is up to Leo to fix it. I was curious to see what kind of critter it was going to be, and if Leo would be able to get it in the jar (yes, don’t ask). But what happens next is even more OMG, because Leo’s best friend is suddenly there as well. Yep. You can imagine that it throws off Leo, because the secret has to be safe! I was a bit on the fence if I liked this whole thing or not. On the one hand, it was finally time because dang how did Leo keep it for that long without anyone following him? But on the other hand, was it really necessary to be the best friend? Or that it really had to come out?
Oh well, I am happy with how things went eventually, because Leo now has to find a special ingredient for his master to make a potion so that person will forget all about what he has seen. And heard. Because they don’t want the whole town finding out that monsters are real. You don’t want chaos. And I loved that this meant some more questions, because those ruins really show us something and I would love to get more deets on that. Plus, the monster, the Frightmare, was just so cool and at times quite scary. I mean, a blue horse that breathes fire and will burn you if you get close? Oh yes! And guess what, Leo has to get some hairs from that one. Which reminded me of that episode of Gravity Falls. XD Things got really excited and I loved that Starla and Leo worked together and that Leo had some great ideas.
Starla, we all know that she is NOT my favourite character and heavily reminds me of one of the annoying things on Earth, namely… Navi. LEO WALKER LEO WALKER. LORD, girl, just shut up. But in this one she did get a bit less annoying. Not by a whole lot, but she was a bit more tolerable in this one. There is still a lot of improvement to have though.
However in Dutch the monster was called both Gruwschimmel and Spookpaard. At one point I thought it was two different creatures, until my head finally realised that, oh yes, schimmel is another word for horse/it is a kind of horse. XD I would have preferred the Dutch translation to just keep it to one word to just make it a bit more clear.
The ending made me smile and I am definitely curious what other things Leo’s master can do!
All in all, I did have a lot of fun reading this one. I loved the storylines, love the monsters, but I do hope that Leo’s master gets a bit nicer, and understand that Leo is really doing his best.
Review first posted https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews