The Dragon Conspiracy

Familiar creatures of fable-elves, wizards, dwarves and dragons, all-are trotted out in the Moredun's debut novel, the first in the World of Eldaterra series. Set in 1895 and 1910, the main story line focuses on 14-year-old James Kinghorn, thrust into the position of being the savior for not just 1910 northern England, but the hidden world of Eldaterra, which he discovers by stumbling into a stone arch that only he, his father and scant others can see. Once in Eldaterra, James befriends a pair of dwarves, a wizard and two talking ""parlanimals"" (a dog and a bear) who inform him of his destiny and hint at his hidden powers. The wizard, Sibelius, tells James, ""I believe you have been sent... to decide whether evil will breach the magic that separates our worlds. If this happens, Eldaterra will cease to exist. The science of your world will crash into the last of the true Knowledge, and it will be lost forever."" James then travels back to his world, in time to discover a convention of genteel-looking ladies-who are not what they appear to be. Meanwhile, James's father conducts his own investigation of what has happened to his son, as an Inspector Corrick attempts to solve an 1895 murder mystery. With a perhaps too-heavy dose of Tolkien's influence (evil warrior hordes are olorcs instead of orcs here), this series should have no problem finding a market, even if it adds little to the genre in the process. Ages 12-up.