It is always dangerous to insert well known figures into a story not their own. James Owen’s Imaginarium Geographica series is full to bursting with literary and historical figures living out lives just a shade different from those recorded in the history books. The Shadow Dragons is the fourth book in this series and follows Here, There Be Dragons, The Search for the Red Dragon, and The Indigo King in chronicling an exploration of the Archipelago of Dreams, a magical land that contains all of the places found in song and story. There are echoes of Avalon, of Neverland, even of Narnia, in the Archipelago, and these fantastic places are accessible only through the maps found in the Imaginarium Geographica, an atlas that three companions have been commanded to guard and explore.

These three companions, called caretakers, are none other than John (J.R.R. Tolkien), Charles (Charles Williams), and Jack (C.S. Lewis); they are first appointed caretakers as young men at Oxford, and part of the fun of the entire series is ferreting out the sparks that turn into some of their novels (there is, for example, a talking badger that bears no little resemblance to some of the characters in Narnia). Another part of the fun is watching these three young men, friends in real life, explore a world that is made of the stuff that inspires and weaves dreams and myths. They are not the first to hold the office of caretaker; they follow after such luminaries as Edgar Allan Poe, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jules Verne, and a host of other famous names literary, artistic, and otherwise.

In this instalment, the three caretakers and an assortment of companions have been called back to the Archipelago because the land is, once more, on the brink of war. This time the war mirrors the coming conflict in Europe, World War II, and threatens the existence of the Geographica and all of its caretakers. The Inklings must use their own imaginations and the collective wisdom of the caretakers that came before them to battle an old enemy, Richard Burton and his gang of rogue caretakers, the Imperial Cartological Society, who believe that the secrets of the Geographica and the Archipelago should be made public and not hidden in story and song as they have been for centuries.

Although Burton appears to be the ringleader in a plot to rebuild the Keep of Time, lurking in the shadows is an ancient, and familiar, enemy, one made stronger because he has gained hold of the Spear of Destiny, a weapon even the dragons, guardians of the Archipelago, have reason to fear. The caretakers must use all of their considerable wits, knowledge, and imagination to defeat an enemy who has done his best to make himself invincible.  They must rely on the bravery of their companions as well, and on the honour of one of the Archipelago’s greatest betrayers.

This book, like many of the best young adult novels, works on several levels at once. It is a quick moving and quirky adventure filled with animals, people, and lands that pique the imagination and carry the story forward quite competently on their own. Simultaneously, there is the fun of seeing the imaginary origins of some of the most beloved books in literary history. Tolkien and Lewis are not alone, Mallory, Cervantes, and Defoe are among the authors existing in the Archipelago, and Don Quixote himself has a key role to play in the adventure of the novel. Hopefully, the fascination that a reader feels while learning about the various caretakers and people in the Archipelago will evolve into an interest in their work, and worlds upon worlds of imagination will open up.

Sometimes, the sheer number of recognizable names can overwhelm and the novel can get caught up in the fun of playing with the characters and histories it has adopted as its own; but, on the whole, the book manages to hold the central characters firmly enough that the story keeps moving without too much trouble. The Shadow Dragons is an imaginative, fun read and has the added bonus of making some of the most famous writers and artists, and their work, feel like friends.

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