The Beast of Buckingham Palace

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Fly into a fiery and fantastical future with No. 1 bestselling author David Walliams, in an epic adventure of myth and legend, good and evil, and one small boy who must save the world...

Illustrated by the artistic genius Tony Ross!

It is 2120 and London is in ruins.

The young Prince Alfred has never known a life outside Buckingham Palace - but when strange goings-on breach its walls and stalk the corridors in the dead of night, he is thrust into a world of mystery, adventure and monsters.

And when his mother, the Queen, is dragged away to the Tower of London, Alfred must screw up his courage and battle to save her, himself... and the entire city.

In a future of myths and legends, join the bestselling David Walliams and venture forth into his most enthralling tale yet!

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Booklist Review

Walliams' latest features lots of high-volume Brit-style buffoonery but with distinctly angry undertones. A century from now, England is shrouded in permanent darkness in the wake of a comprehensive, humanity-inflicted eco-catastrophe. London lies in ruins and the royal family has either gone missing or been locked into Buckingham Palace by a sinister Lord Protector (a title with Cromwellian associations, though that's less meaningful this side of the pond). It's left up to puny, 12-year-old Prince Alfred to save his family and to counter the Lord Protector's nefarious bid for supremacy, which involves subjugating 10 mighty griffins linked to different parts of Great Britain using spills of royal blood. If some of the jokes and references will pass over American readers' heads ("I haven't had this much fun since that man streaked at Royal Ascot!"), there's gunfire, heroic sacrifice, chasing about, and large explosions aplenty keep the pages turning as Alfred faces down the would-be tyrant with help from a comically malfunctioning robot butler and a crew of aging but doughty ladies-in-waiting.