Book Summary and Reviews of The Last of the High Kings by Kate Thompson

The Last of the High Kings by Kate Thompson

The Last of the High Kings

by Kate Thompson

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2008, 336 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Traveling to the land of eternal youth was the only way J.J. Liddy could stop time from leaking from his world to T'ir na n'Og. But fifteen years after returning from the land of the faeries, J.J. wonders if that long-ago visit is responsible for the strange things now happening to those around him.

Why does his daughter Jenny roam barefoot through the wilds, when she should be in school? When did the mysterious white goat begin to patrol the hillside? What is the secret project that J.J.'s son Donal is attempting? And who is the ghost guarding the stone beacon at the top of the mountain—and why has Jenny befriended him?

Finding answers to these questions will take J.J. and his family on the most important and dangerous journey of their lives. If they fail, it will undo all the good that J.J. accomplished fifteen years ago. But if they succeed, they will defeat the forces that are gathering to destroy all of mankind, and finally secure the future of the last of the high kings.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Though much of the story is told from the point of view of adults, it's two children, Jenny and a younger brother, who, in a beautifully executed denouement, see through the Irish mist to do the right thing." - Publishers Weekly.

"The diversity of protagonists diffuses the narrative, resulting in an unexpectedly bland return to the Liddy clan; nevertheless, expect high demand from readers of the first. Ages10-14." - Kirkus Reviews.

"Thompson evokes a windswept sense of place and there is a misty poetry in her language." - The Guardian (UK).

"This well-plotted tale combines Irish folklore, magic, music, and humor to weave a delightful story with a fey but admirable heroine. Fans of The New Policeman will relish it all." - KLIATT.

This information about The Last of the High Kings was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Click here and be the first to review this book!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Author Information

Kate Thompson Author Biography

Kate Thompson was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, in 1956, the youngest of three children. After she left school she worked with racehorses for several years, in England and in the USA before going to college to study law. She left after a year and went traveling to India. On a second visit to India she began volunteering at an orphanage in Maharashtra, then spent time in Santiniketan, the college that was set up by India's great poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Between the two visits to India she moved to Ireland, and has lived there since 1981.

Thompson didn't start writing seriously until the late eighties. she joined the North Clare Writers' Workshop, which met every week in Ennistymon Library, and was soon producing poems and short stories on a regular basis. One of the ...

... Full Biography
Link to Kate Thompson's Website

Other books by Kate Thompson at BookBrowse
  • The New Policeman jacket
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked The Last of the High Kings, try these:

  • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek jacket

    The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

    by Kim Michele Richardson

    Published 2019

    About this book

    Inspired by the true blue-skinned people of Kentucky and the brave and dedicated Kentucky Pack Horse library service of the 1930s, The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is a story of raw courage, fierce strength, and one woman's belief that books can carry us anywhere―even back home.

  • The Twelve-Mile Straight jacket

    The Twelve-Mile Straight

    by Eleanor Henderson

    Published 2018

    About this book

    From New York Times bestselling author Eleanor Henderson, an audacious American epic set in rural Georgia during the years of the Depression and Prohibition.

  • The Almost Sisters jacket

    The Almost Sisters

    by Joshilyn Jackson

    Published 2018

    About this book

    With empathy, grace, humor, and piercing insight, the author of gods in Alabama pens a powerful, emotionally resonant novel of the South that confronts the truth about privilege, family, and the distinctions between perception and reality - the stories we tell ourselves about our origins and who we really are.

We have 13 read-alikes for The Last of the High Kings, but non-members are limited to three results. Join free to see the complete list of recommendations.
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes

More Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History

Browse all Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Speculative, Alt. History books

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $60 for 12 months or $20 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
When No One Else Will
by Amanda Skenandore
1940s Chicago nurse risks everything at an illegal women’s clinic during a high-profile trial of courage and sisterhood.

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket
    Look What You Made Me Do
    by John Lanchester
    A propulsive tale of intergenerational tension and revenge from the Booker Prize nominee.
  • Book Jacket
    The Jellyfish Problem
    by Tessa Yang
    A marine biologist rescues a Maine island menaced by a giant glowing jellyfish in this inventive debut.
  • Book Jacket
    Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young
    by Zayd Ayers Dohrn
    Son of Weather Underground radicals recounts life on the run and decades of revolutionary struggle.
Who Said...

Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Book
Trivia
  • Book Trivia

    Can you name the title?

    Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

Q S, S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.