Review of Britfield and the Rise of the Lion by C.R. Stewart

Britfield & the Rise of the Lion by C.R. Stewart
Format:  ARC Paperback
Publisher:  Devonfield Publishing LLC 
Number of Pages:  361
Publishing:  July 4th, 2021
Source:  Review copy provided by Devonfield Publishing LLC

Opening lines:  "When the ferry from Dover, England, to Calais, France sunk in the English Channel, Tom and Sarah, who had become separated from Professor Hainsworth, vigorously rowed a lifeboat toward the French shoreline."

Britfield and the Rise of the Lion is the second book in C.R. Stewart's planned seven part series.  The first book, Britfield and the Lost Crown centered on orphans Tom and Sarah discovering that Tom's parents might be alive and he could be a member of the oldest family in England and a rightful heir to the British throne. In order to search for his parents, Tom and Sarah craftily planned a daring escape from Weatherly Orphanage in a hot air balloon.  This began a fast paced adventure across England, all the while being closely followed by Detective Gowerstone from Scotland Yard.

Six months have passed since their adventure in England, Tom and Sarah have been trapped at Mont-Saint -Michel monastery after being taken in by the monks when their ferry sunk off the coast of France.  Thomas is now in charge of cleaning the refectory while Sarah organizes the huge library, neither are happy with their lack of freedom and chores.  Concerned about whether their friend, Professor Hainsworth survived the ferry mishap, they plan their next escape.  Before being separated from the professor, Tom and Sarah were headed to Castle Chambord to locate news of any surviving Britfields, and maybe they'll also find the professor there waiting for them.

Having been freed from the island monastery and alone on the streets, Tom and Sarah attempt to make contact with Inspector Rousseau from the Paris police, Detective Gowerstone provided them her information as a reliable source to contact if any trouble should arise.  Before Sarah and Tom are even able to make contact, they are forced to flee when an assassin begins to track them down.  Just as things look bleak, Tom and Sarah are reunited with their friend Oliver from England.  Narrowly escaping the assassin, Oliver proposes they go to the Louvre where they might find documents about the Britfield family.  From there the trio are on a fast paced adventure across the streets of Paris, taking them to sights like Cathédrale Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower to Bordeaux and Lyon.

One of the things that I've so enjoyed about the Britfield series thus far is the way that the author draws you into the setting, there's a strong feeling of being immersed into the architecture, geography, history and culture of each new setting.   From the description of buildings, to the tidbits about each landmark.  Always enough to peak your interest without a dumping of information.  Balancing entertaining with factual.  The author had hoped to encourage children to appreciate the arts while reading exciting stories including these elements. 

In the first book, Tom and Sarah visited many of the landmarks of England, including Windsor Castle, Oxford University, Canterbury Cathedral etc.  This time they're in and around Paris, a city one day that I would love to visit.  It makes me want to sample some brie with bread and have a cafe' au lait while reading along. 

If the first book was about Tom and Sarah, this second book was about them encountering a new foe, "the committee," and Tom learning more about his link to the Britfield's.  I think that's the biggest change that I've noticed from the first book, Tom and Sarah dominated the first book, and had to rely on each other to escape the orphanage and evade Detective Growerstone.  They did receive some assistance from the professor and Oliver, but it seemed more informational.  The second book felt more about their connection to the people around them, mostly the adults who were helping them.  Detective Growerstone, Professor Hainsworth and Oliver are still present, but they're now joined by Inspector Rousseau, The Archbishop, Oliver's uncle, the Resistance fighters and many others.  It sometimes seemed that Tom and Sarah took a back seat in these instances, although logically it made sense because of the amount of help they needed, especially as the secret society began to ramp up their attack on Tom and Sarah.  

Rise of the Lion was also more action based then I recall in the first book, it kind of reminded me of a James Bond film where there's a global conspiracy, corruption, and a secret society bent on taking over the world.  Bombs, high tech gear, military style operations, drones and even a kidnapping and rescue attempt.  Yeah very exciting there toward the end of the book.  I quite enjoyed the direction the story took.   Interwoven into the book is a sense of camaraderie or family.  Sarah and Tom, even Oliver see each other as family, with a strong bond of friendship and loyalty toward one another.  They continue to be in danger, especially Tom because of his connection to the Britfield's and although Tom isn't closer to finding his parents, I can't help being excited for the next book in the series, Britfield and The Return of the Prince to see what happens next in Sarah and Tom's adventure.  **Thank you to C.R. Stewart for such an entertaining and exciting story and to Devonfield Publishing for the ARC paperback for my review.**