On the long list of British children’s authors is Jenny Nimmo. In 1986, she began The Magician Trilogy, which was completed in 1989. From there she wrote several miscellaneous works before starting The Children of the Red King. This series went on for eight books, beginning in 2002 and ending in 2009, with an extension written in 2011 called The Secret Kingdom.

Story overview:
10-year-old Charlie lives in a house with his mother, two grandmothers, and uncle. His father supposedly died in a car accident when Charlie was still an infant. With his father’s side of the family known for their dark and shady ways, Charlie prefers to be more like his mother.

In fact, Charlie is content with being an average boy. He wants nothing to do with his crazy aunts or their power. But when a magical ability surfaces from within him, he can no longer stay in the background. The label, endowed, is bestowed upon him as his tyrannical grandmother, Grizelda Bone, forces him to attend Bloor’s Academy—a school for the gifted. But not before Charlie learns of a missing baby, now a girl his own age. With determination, Charlie makes it his mission to find her.

At the school, he meets kids who wish to help his cause, while others go out of their way to create obstacles to interrupt his mission. Yet help from unexpected places aids him and his friends as they seek to save the lost girl.

My thoughts:
There are some books where it takes me a few chapters to get interested. Midnight for Charlie Bone wasn’t one of them; I was hooked after the first few pages. The characters are dynamic and believable, the plot development is flawless, and the story itself was an enjoyable read. It’s written in a mixture of third-person omniscient and limited. Where the author does switch character heads during a scene, it happened so smoothly that I didn’t find it jarring like so many other books I’ve read. I look forward to continuing this series down the road, and recommend it [so far] as a great read.

Read full review at: http://booksforyouth.com

James D. Maxon
Author of Traphis: A Wizard's Tale

A friend recommended this series to me. Definitely gives me Harry Potter vibes, which I like, but it isn't on the same level as far as the plot, characters, and writing. Still enjoyed enough and easy enough of a read to continue on.

Must admit that nostalgia is a major factor in this rating, but I really do think this is a great series. Comparing it to Harry Potter doesn’t make sense to me. I enjoy the magic of that world and I enjoy superhero stories, but I also find this story refreshing in the sense that the magic is subtle. The endowed children make up a small percentage of Bloor’s academy, the gifts they have are unique, and often it’s alluded to and not just part of action sequences, which sets up future books in this series pretty well!

I only wish I enjoyed the audiobook as much as the paperback. The narration is great but the character voices are a little bizarre. Grandma Bone sounds like a perpetually angry pantomime villain and 17 year old Manfred sounds more like a 43 year old chain smoker.

From page one, this felt like a B-rate attempt at recreating the Harry Potter series. The comparisons between the two series were blatantly obvious and innumerable, and once I started noticing them, I couldn't put those thoughts out of my mind. The characters felt like weak adaptations of the beloved cast that was introduced and followed throughout the Harry Potter series, and there was little originality, intrigue, or character growth in any of these figures. The plot felt weak and flimsy, and I readily identified a litany of plot holes that frustrated me to no end. The writing was nothing to write home about, and it certainly didn't compare to J.K. Rowling's. The exact target audience was unclear while reading - the writing itself felt very juvenile and simplified, yet the book tried to tackle some darker and more mature themes. This discrepancy was further off-putting and disorienting. Ultimately, I can't recommend this series in good conscience to anyone. If it sounds intriguing, I would instead advise going directly to the source material and enjoying a far better and well-crafted magical tale.

This series has its good points and its bad points, and I'm going to address them as a whole for this review, so get ready.

First of all, I would like to say that my overall impression of this is that Midnight for Charlie Bone and the accompanying books in the series are actually a Harry Potter series written for a younger audience. So if any young adult or adult readers have younger siblings or children who want to read Harry Potter and are too young, have no fear! This is the perfect series to fulfill that need.

To prove that my above statement has foundation, similarities between the two series can be found virtually everywhere in the series. First of all, Charlie Bone lives with his mother and two grandmothers. One of his grandmothers is evil, and she and Charlie's three aunts have actually gotten rid of Charlie's father, who has been missing for years. Does this sound familiar? So the families are somewhat similar in that the protagonist lives with or is controlled by thoroughly nasty characters. There are differences, of course, but this popped out to me as a huge similarity.

Charlie Bone is also special, or endowed. Much like Harry Potter, he is one of a few people who have special magical talents, and he turns out to be the most important of all the endowed children.

Now, there are considerable differences in the storylines, and I have become quite interested in the novels, but my original statement still stands; this is a Harry Potter series aimed at younger kids, such as middle schoolers and perhaps even elementary schoolers who aren't ready for the length and darkness of the Harry Potter books. (After all, even HP fans have to admit that the series starts getting a lot darker in The Goblet of Fire. I wouldn't necessarily suggest that to a 10-year-old, but maybe that's just me.)

My Grade = 70% - C-

First Published 2002. 401 pages.

I found the first six books of this series (two in hardcover) at a Salvation Army Thrift Store last week for $3.00, so I grabbed them.

Unfortunately, after having read the first book, the rest will all be going to the librarian in charge of juvenile books at my local library.

The setting is supposed to be “the present” in a small city somewhere in England. The only hint that I found was that it has a cathedral.

We meet Charlie Bone, who lives with his mother and two grandmothers, one sweet and lovable, the other cruel and miserable. The cruel one, Grandmother Bone, has bought a house for them all, including her 20 year younger-than-she brother, Payton, in the hopes of fulfilling the family legacy of their descending from a legendary medieval Red King. Grandmother Bone also has three other miserable sisters who make the Weird Sisters from Macbeth seem like the Three Graces.

When Charlie first sees signs of his strange ability (he can hear what people in photos or paintings can say), he is parked up and sent to Bloor Academy, a school for other students with strange abilities.

He makes some good friends and some bad enemies, has adventures, solves mysteries, and eventually prevails in the end.

I thought it unusual that the title, Midnight for Charlie Bone was not referenced until the last two words, “twelve o’clock.”

The characters seem to be matchstick versions of real people and very undeveloped, the story seemed familiar: boy with special abilities is accepted at a school for other students with special abilities

Only just realised I never wrote a review for this one so here goes. Most common criticism I hear levelled against the Children of the Red King series is that it's just discount Harry Potter. And while yes it very obviously is taking a lot from the template of the HP series that's like saying cheese and butter are the same thing because they both came from milk. A lot of the fantasy conventions resemble another series but how they are used and the characters that occupy the narrative do NOT give even remotely the same feel I get from reading any of the Potter books.

Jenny Nimmo's writing style is simple and effective. Direct and to the point but also taking the time to really get to know these characters. There's something intimate in the way in which the magic of this series is presented. The story feels very grounded in a reality much like our own and all the supernatural and magical feats feel as such. It's a very soft magical system that makes the magic in this universe feel as much a feature of nature as air is. There's some genuinely funny moments as well. I remember reading this book with my mother and both of laughing at the dog Runner Bean's antics (yes fart humour works on me get over yourself and remove the stick from your ass if that offends your literary sensibilities). Manfred Bloor is in fairness a 2-bit one-dimensional ass villain but serves his function well.

All in all I need to re-read and maybe finish the rest of Red King series in the future but I felt compelled to leave a review of Midnight after noticing I hadn't and also because the Harry Potter comparisons both positive and negative were quite grating to read.

3.5/5

2,5/5 stars.
Unfortunately I didn't love this book.
Everybody comparing this to Harry Potter. I don't see the resemblance.
And most of all, I didn't got into the story. Everthing was left at the surface and up to now I didn't got to know the characters enough. Maybe this'll get better in the next books of the series, but I don't think I will continue this series.

This was a beloved book series from my childhood that I recently decided to pick up and re-read. And oh my goodness, I wasn't expecting this, but IT'S STILL SO GOOD.

This was honestly so much fun to dive into again, after all these years, and fall in love with the story all over again. Considering everything and considering all the books I've read since reading this, I can say that this is actually a really, really good book series. The writing is lovely and incredibly descriptive and gave off very warm, autumnal vibes for me—flickering candles and windy days and quaint old bookshops. The characters are all memorable and you quickly form attachments to many of them. In that way, it reminded me of the Harry Potter series, where you pick up the book and become acquainted with all the characters and get warm fuzzies just thinking about them.

Granted, this is a middle grade book and there are definitely times when this comes across with the dialogue and such. But all in all, this is a damn good middle grade novel, and one that I personally think is vastly under-appreciated. I'm so glad that I've re-read this book, and I'm just as hooked into the story as I was when I first read it in elementary school... and now I kind of have to read the rest of the series!

"And up from the case rose a knight, with the most dazzling sword I had ever seen..." Midnight for Charlie Bone, by Jenny Nimmo, is one of my favorite books of all time. It is about a boy named Charlie Bone, he has an average life, average friends, and goes to an average school; until he starts hearing voices. His aunts have been testing him all of his life, to see if he is one of the "endowed." The endowed are people with special powers, who descended from the "Red King," a ruler who was skilled in the ways of magic and wizardry. Charlie can hear what the people in pictures said when the picture was taken. For that reason, he is sent to a place called "Bloor's Academy." It is a school for talented and endowed people. He meets more students that are endowed. Billy Raven can talk to animals, Manfred Bloor can hypnotize people, Gabriel Silk can tell what happened to people by putting on their clothes. There are more students that are endowed, some are friendly and some are mean. Charlie discovers that one of the girls in his school was taken from her parents and put in a trance at a young age, so he tries to find her and the thing that will "wake her from her trance." If you liked the Harry Potter series, then you will love this book.

ACADEMIC HONESTY--By pasting this statement, I am indicating that I read the book, and the information on this page is accurate.

“Almost as good as Harry Potter!” This was the line I was repeatedly hearing on the internet about the so-called amazing Charlie Bone. Being a Harry Potter fan (actually, I rather hate the writing style but love the story) I quickly drove to my poorly stocked library and picked up the first book of the series. Never in my life since the Inheritance Trilogy have I been so disappointed by a book that may have had potential.

I have only a few things to comment on, the first being Jenny Nimmo’s writing style. Yes, I understand that this is a fantasy written for children younger than I am (I’m sixteen, by the way). But honestly, this gives her no excuse to write in the way that she does. What is it, exactly, that I am referring to? Simple—and believe me when I say that “simple” is the right word to use in this situation. Nimmo never gives her characters a chance to express themselves, instead speaking in their place and telling the readers about their actions. Never does Charlie “clench his fists and stare ahead through narrowed eyes”. He is merely described as angry. There is no indication of what he does when he’s angry, how he reacts, or even what he is thinking (more often than not). It isn’t only Charlie, however; every character you come into contact with is practically a cardboard cut out with a narrator following him/her around to explain how they feel. Even young children like to experience the characters’ emotions along with them, and Nimmo seems to think that young equals stupid.

Along with this, the sentences she uses are awfully short and rather choppy as well. Yes, children are used to reading such things, but taking the content of the Charlie Bone books into account, the kids reading them are at least able to understand what sentence variety is. Meaning, of course, that they should be able to handle it. In my opinion, this book would have been much better had the author allowed her characters to speak for themselves, and if she’d varied her sentences to include compounds.

Now, I have two other things I would like to mention that—so far—I haven’t seen mentioned in other reviews. One would be the “hero” of the story, Charlie. Why is he the hero? If you take a closer look at the book, you will find that Charlie doesn’t actually do much of anything that would label him as such. Examples? Benjamin is the one keeping a look out for the Tolly Twelve Bells; Feldacio or whatever his name is, is the one who looked after it as well; Gabriel Silk is the one who helped unveil the fact that Charlie’s dad was alive; and Tancred and Lysander are the ones who rescued him from the ruins. Yet in the book’s end, Emma thanks Charlie above everyone else despite all of this. (Oh, there is more that his friends do, but I can’t quite remember what.) It seems to me that Nimmo was sort of desperate to create a hero for her story and give him credit whether he did anything or not. I don’t think its fair to praise a character that hasn’t done anything other than get lost in the ruins. And I still don’t see how this makes him special.

Lastly, I must complain about the school, Boor’s Academy, because there’s something I don’t get. What exactly is this school doing to further the endowed children’s usage of their abilities? I mean, the only thing they do that is set apart from the normal arts students is do their homework in a different room. That’s it. They never undergo any training, they never study about the Red King, they never do much of anything that actually concerns their endowments! So what’s the point of sending them to Bloor’s in the first place? They could have gone to any other school and been subjected to the same treatment. I’m sorry to say this, but it truly looks as if the author just wanted to create a “special boarding school” like Hogwarts for the sake of making her story more interesting. We never really learn too much about Bloor’s, anyway, so I believe there is really no point in having the school there at all (except as a means of meeting new people, of course).

Well, that’s all I really have to say for now. I’ve only gotten to the third book, but only because I skipped the second. I can’t stand the writing enough to make it through. Sad, though, because this story definitely had the potential to be great.