Matthew is back on his next quest to serve the rightful king. Gone from choir boy to page boy to a nameless servant, Matthew will go wherever he is needed. This book heads overseas to Ireland on their mission to reveal the rumours that the boy who is to be the king, lives. Although Henry Tudor has currently taken over the throne, England is divided at who has rightful claim to the throne. Can Matthew help convince the public that the true king is alive? And should they succeed, will the people pledge their loyalty and turn their backs on the Tudors?
In terms of this series, I must say that Alex Marchant is very thorough in her writing, with the inclusion of a cover blurb for the other titles, in the back of each book that serve as a general reminder of the story so far. Another nice little touch is that there are always author notes at the back of each book that give further insight into her findings, and which further explains how she created the story and the historical research that went into writing each novel. This series is an interesting blend of history and fiction that young fans of this genre will enjoy. Meticulous as ever Alex has also added the ‘code’ the order of the white boar use to write letters to each other. The code is placed before the story so readers have a visual to the code that is referred to in the book. There’s also a cast of characters page for readers to refer back to as well.
This third novel ‘King in waiting’ is yet another gripping story written by a great wordsmith who is a lover of history and has sealed together both imagination and English history in this fine telling that both adults and young adults will enjoy. I award this book 5 stars.