THE INDIGO KING

This third entry in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica brings 1930s caretakers John and Jack (aka J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) into an alternate universe where history has been rewritten and the Winter King reigns supreme. Assisted by the alternate-history equivalent of their friend Charles—Wilson, a little-known British fantasy writer—the heroes travel through the past hoping to discover which of two identical twins will grow up to be Merlin and to prevent Mordred (the other twin and the Winter King-to-be) from ruining the timeline. Their adventure takes them through the muddle of mythologies that comprise this magical world; although most of the legendary figures they encounter are Arthurian or Greek, there are also brief references to Norse mythology, English and French fairy tales, Old and New Testament figures, 19th- and 20th-century literature and Monty Python. Despite the contextual chaos, John and Jack have a more coherent adventure solving the mystery of their disrupted timestream than they have in either of their previous quests. Except for those who get a kick out of playing Spot-the-Literary-Allusion, this is missable. (Fantasy. YA)