The Secrets of Droon is a fantasy book series by Tony Abbott aimed at elementary school-age children. The series was named by the American Booksellers Association among the top ten books for Harry Potter fans.[1] On October 1, 2010, the final book of the Series: Special Edition 8: The Final Quest was released, concluding its eleven year run.
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Eric Hinkle, Neal Kroger, and Julie Rubin are three friends who accidentally discover a magical world called Droon; a rainbow staircase that appears when Eric's basement closet is dark is usually how they get to Droon. There they meet Keeah, the princess of Droon and a budding wizard, who is trying to defend Droon against Lord Sparr, an evil sorcerer who constantly tries to destroy Keeah and the Upper World friends and take Droon for his own to rule.
The first twelve books see Keeah, Eric, Neal, and Julie trying to find and free Keeah's mother, Queen Relna, from a curse placed on her by Sparr that forces her to shift shapes; she goes from being a bird, to a dragon, to a tiger, and finally a dolphin before becoming human again with the help of her sister, Witch Demither. The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth books and the first special edition introduce the plot involving Zara, the Queen of Light, and her three sons: Urik, Galen, and Sparr; Zara, who was kidnapped along with Sparr by Ko, emperor of the long-lost evil Empire of Goll, and brought to Droon (as Zara and her sons were originally from the Upper World) will later become a recurringly important part of the series.
After Special Edition #1, ‘‘The Magic Escapes’’, Droon's past begins to be explored, as well as Droon's connection to the Upper World. The characters develop as well, with Eric's wizard powers (gained in Book 12, ‘‘Under the Serpent Sea’’) progressing, and Julie obtaining the powers of a wingwolf- namely, to fly and shape-shift. In Book 22, ‘‘The Isle of Mists’’, Sparr awakens Ko; however, in the process Sparr and his pet, the two-headed dog Kem, are aged back to being children, and become allies with Keeah and the Upper World children. In Book 28, ‘‘In the Shadow of Goll’’, Sparr is turned back into his adult self, though he remains the children's ally. He disappears through a hole in the earth to Droon's Underworld, but reappears in Special Edition #5, ‘‘Moon Magic’’, though fifty years older in Droon's future. He comes back to Droon's present to give the children and Galen his piece of the Moon Medallion, a magical artifact composed of four pieces created by Zara and her sons (Zara's Silver Moon [the pendant], Galen's Ring of Midnight, Urik's Pearl Sea, and Sparr's Twilight Star), before going off on his own journey.
Gethwing, the moon dragon who serves as Ko's lieutenant (though he has ambitions of his own), becomes the more prevalent villain, especially when Ko is thrown into a chasm with no visible bottom. In Book 33, ‘‘Flight of the Blue Serpent’’, Eric is wounded by a poisoned ice dagger intended for Galen, and is eventually manipulated by Gethwing into becoming Prince Ungast, his evil opposite. Ungast, along with Princess Neffu (Keeah's evil opposite) and Lord Sparr, returned to his younger, evil self, form Gethwing's formidable "Crown of Wizards"; it is not until Special Edition #7, ‘‘The Genie King’’, that Eric becomes himself again. Eric, pretending to still be Ungast, goes undercover to find out a secret about Gethwing that could possibly help defeat him.
Tony Abbott has revealed on his blog that there could be a sequel series of seven books based on the Seven Cities of Gold.Nickelodeon has even expressed interest in doing a three to four season television series based on the books.