Before SANTA was SANTA, he was North, Nicholas St. North—a daredevil swordsman whose prowess with double scimitars was legendary. Like any swashbuckling young warrior, North seeks treasure and adventure, leading him to the fiercely guarded village of Santoff Claussen, said to be home to the greatest treasure in all the East, and to an even greater wizard, Ombric Shalazar. But when North arrives, legends of riches have given way to terrors of epic proportions! North must decide whether to seek his fortune…or save the village.
When our rebellious hero gets sucked into the chaos (literally), the fight becomes very personal. The Nightmare King and his evil Fearlings are ruling the night, owning the shadows, and sending waves of fear through all of Santoff Clausen. For North, this is a battle worth fighting...and, he’s not alone. There are five other Guardians out there. He only has to find them in time.
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"Not as magical as I had hoped, but still a lot of fun. "
— Stephen (5 out of 5 stars)
“Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King stole my son! The book came into our house, and the boy disappeared, for hours. Eventually he returned, but it seems that his imagination never came all the way back. A part of him will always remain tangled in the deep, dark, dazzling, insouciant mythology of this latest and most wonderful of William Joyce’s worlds.”
— Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay“The authors do a great job of creating excitement and intrigue, and for those who love to wend their way through extraordinary tales, this novel will not disappoint.”
— School Library Journal" Too many meaningless exclamation points, and not a very interesting story. Some cool ideas, but not well-executed. "
— Polly, 10/15/2011William Joyce is the New York Times bestselling author of The Man in the Moon, Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King, Santa Calls, and others. He has won three Emmy Awards for his Rolie Polie Olie animated series, developed character concepts for Toy Story and A Bug’s Life, and made the films Robots and Meet the Robinsons. He is currently executive producer of the DreamWorks Animation release Rise of the Guardians. Most recently, he won an Academy Award for his animated short film The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. He lives in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Gerard Doyle, a seasoned audio narrator, he has been awarded dozens of AudioFile Earphones Awards, was named a Best Voice in Young Adult Fiction in 2008, and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He was born of Irish parents and raised and educated in England. In Great Britain he has enjoyed an extensive career in both television and repertory theater and toured nationally and internationally with the English Shakespeare Company. He has appeared in London’s West End in the gritty musical The Hired Man. In America he has appeared on Broadway in The Weir and on television in New York Undercover and Law & Order. He has taught drama at Ross School for the several years.