The Riddle of Zorfendorf Castle

The Secrets of Droon #25

by Tony Abbott, David Merrell (Illustrator)

With nearly 2 million books in print, this Little Apple series is H-O-T, hot. The SECRET is out -- DROON is the series that kids, parents, and teachers are talking about!

There's only one passage between the Upper World and Droon -- the magical rainbow staircase. At least, that's what Eric and his friends have always believed. But now Ko and his beasts are attacking Zorfendorf Castle, a magical fortress that's hiding a huge secret: the Fifth River, another passage to the Upper World. Ko will do anything to get to the river -- and to the Upper World. And Eric, Julie, Neal, and Keeah will do anything to stop him!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Juvenile, Chapter Books, Middle Grade

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Tony Abbott (born 1952) is an American author of children's books. His most popular work is the book series The Secrets of Droon, which includes over 40 books. He has sold over 12 million copies of his books and they have been translated into several other languages, including Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, and Russian. He has also written the bestseller Firegirl.

Abbott was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1952. His father was a university professor and had an extensive library of books which became one of Abbott's first sources of literature. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Connecticut where he went through elementary school and high school.

Abbott attended the University of Connecticut, and after studying both music and psychology, decided to study English and graduated from the University of Connecticut with a bachelor's degree in English literature. He attended the workshops of Patricia Reilly Giff to further develop his writing after college.

Abbott currently lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, with his wife, two daughters, and two dogs. Tony had one brother and two sisters.

Reviews

[Kryssy · Rating 2 out of 5]

OUCH, this one hurt my challenge…

I really couldn’t get into the plot until the second half. This book was more of one to set up a bunch of plots for later books

- Friends are at the beach. Eric uses his powers and is seen by Meredith
- Need to find ko’s flying saucer palace
- Zorfendorf is the massive library
- Gethwing doesn’t want to go back to ko
- Message from galen in a book
- Galen created zorfendorf to hide a river made everyone think it was always there. Except ko who has been asleep…
- Fountain with old language carved on it
- Eric knew the symbol of the magic word. The fifth fountain goes straight up. To the upper world?
- Boat brought them up the river. Had to hide khan and max from (of all people) meredith. Go back to droon via basement
- Ring and medallian combine to tell a story. Zara build the fifth river to send sparr back
- Ko knows about a secret passageway. Sparr told him!
- Sparr can get in ko’s head to slow him down
- Used the medallion to shut down the fountain. Get sent back to when zara created it
- Sparr and gethwing escape to the upper world
- Lots of friends coming to fight dragon
- Stairs disappear before they can go home

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how the author continues to explore the past of Droon and of Sparr. I love how Sparr has always been the bad guy, but now he’s getting a second chance to make his life different. And I love the fun, adventurous story line.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the story was fast paced, it was often confusing, with very little progressive detail and characters introduced without explanation or context. I’m not sure if it’s because this is the first I’ve read in the series, but I found myself feeling quite lost and confused with this book.

[Naaman]

July 21

[Vri B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[Gregisdead121 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stakes are high as the gang races against time to prevent an invasion of their upper world . It's great that this far into the series Abbott can still manage to surprise.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric, Neal, Julie, Keeah, and Kid Sparr learning a shocking truth about Zorfendorf Castle as they try to thwart the plans of Ko and Gethwing. Another fantastic adventure.

[Mintara Lystria · Rating 5 out of 5]

What does that last word mean? Also.... Oh no!!

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've decided to read The Secrets of Droon series entirely for Christmas since i've been feeling a bit nostalgic. I want to be able to live a bit of the magic of being a kid and what beeter to help than this incredible series. I know that this series is for young kids but i feel it will still be great after all these years.
When I first read this series, this is the book that I started from, this was the start of my adventure with Droon. This was incredible. We get action, adventure, character development, mysteries, answers, friendship and much more. We find out a lot about Droon and Sparr's family and history and we are left with a big cliffhanger, making us want to read the next book badly. This one is one of the better books in the series.

[Aaliyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I rate this book 3 stars because sometime its entertaining and sometimes its boring. When I saw the title of the book I thought it was "The Riddle Of Zorfendork Castle". Almost every time I saw the word Zorfendorf I read it as Zorfendork. This is the 2nd book i read of secret of droon. My favorite part is when they said that the castle of Sparr is hundred feet tall. My favorite character is Julie because she can change to any shapes. I recommend this book for people who likes fantasy and cool things that are happening.

[Dylan Wong S1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant but u will understand nothing if you had not read the last 24 books! This took place mainly in zorfendorf castle, they had to solved a great single riddle to solved many branches os trouble. Sparr evil fin-headed monster now becomes a great young man and a helper to the tree to defeat Ko the legendary monster of doom and his pet dragon Gethwing.read to find out whether will the four or Ko win!!

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because my son had to do a book talk and diorama on it. Only way to help him was to know what the book was about. He's 8 and loves this fun adventure series.

[LMA Reads]

They find the fith river that leds to the Upper world they to to destroy it before Emper Ko finds it and destroys the place it leds to

[Goge (BARRONS) le Moning Maniac,]

I can't remember. Been 8 plus years..

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this one, they find out about sparr's mother, queen zara.

[M C · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was fine! I liked it also I didn't know Sparr can cry like that !! The secret they discovered about his mother was interesting !

[Anna]

Cliffhanger!!!
After this, read Special Edition 3: Voyagers of the Silver Sand

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

zorfendorf is a strange name

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute adventure story for 2nd or 3rd grade level readers.

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

i liked the part when they discovered the secret of little sparr's mother.

[Sfran · Rating 5 out of 5]

good and awsome