Dragons at Crumbling Castle
Description
Dragons have invaded Crumbling Castle, and all of King Arthur’s knights are either on holiday or visiting their grannies. It’s a disaster! Luckily, there’s a spare suit of armour and a very small boy called Ralph who’s willing to fill it. Together with Fortnight the Friday knight and Fossfiddle the wizard, Ralph sets out to defeat the fearsome fire-breathers.
Reviewed on 18th July 2026
A delightful collection of early Pratchett short stories, aimed at kids but perfectly accessible and entertaining for older readers too.
It's almost Pratchett Light. There's less complexity and less subtlety than in his later works, but you can still see the beginnings of what would later emerge.
There's a lot of humour, but also a lot of morals - not heavily, but there just to guide the story and guide the reader.
Many of the stories share a common setting, in a parody of the real world, and that's quite fun to visit multiple times and see how he's used the slight fantasy version to poke fun at society.
A good set of fun tales.
