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General Jack and the Battle of the Five Kingdoms

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An inspiring allegory for children told as an epic battle among animal kingdoms in an ancient land. Jack leads the underdogs in battle.

General Jack and the Battle of the Five Kingdoms by David Bush is an allegory aimed at inspiring and passionately drawing children (primarily middle-graders) into the world of literature. It resembles, to a considerable degree, children’s fictional works by acclaimed past authors J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis (like The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia.)


Jack, a young boy, is the lone human in an ancient land solely inhabited by animals and birds. Except for a pitiable lot of hapless animals like sheep, goats, cows, and rabbits, each animal, based on its species, belongs to one of five kingdoms. Within each Kingdom, there is a gradation of clans that comprise it based on the power of each clan. The most powerful of the Kingdoms is the Feline Kingdom. Lions are the masters of the Feline Kingdom and being the most powerful kingdom, of all the other kingdoms as well. The feline Overlords are powerful, cruel, selfish, and ruthless. They are tyrants who rule the animal world with an iron hand. Lesser animals submit to them owing to fear, particularly the hapless ones. They hate them and would gladly overthrow them if they could, but they are too weak. Jack, who comes to the rescue of the story’s hero and saves him while at death’s door, is the game-changer. With his brilliant human mind, he plans, organizes, and leads the weaker animals in an epoch-making revolt against their overlords.


Like The Chronicles of Narnia, this book too is based upon the moral framework taught by The Bible. It reiterates that people invariably forget the sound values established by revolutionary leaders over time. They grow distant from them, and to their own detriment, in the process.


I loved reading this book because of its powerful and highly imaginative plot. The author’s writing style is clear, detailed, and unambiguous. It has all the makings of a new children’s classic (albeit after some suggested changes are made!) In it, I found the line on the Reedsy website “There’d be treasure buried here” come amazingly true. After my analysis, I concluded that this book is a veritable treasure that I discovered on Reedsy Discovery, and I expect that it’ll enjoy considerable success once launched.


I wholeheartedly recommend it to children aged 10 through 15 and in general, to all who believe they’re still children at heart, regardless of age!

Reviewed by

An engineer and part-time IT Consultant based in Bangalore, India. Part-time copy editor/reviewer. An IEEE Senior Member. Deep thinker and innovator. Highly analytical, clear, accurate, and thorough. Over 100 book reviews published to date-80 on Reedsy and 22 on Online BookClub.

About the author

I am a medical doctor specialized in haematology. I am a contributor to a widely read political blog and have authored peer reviewed papers in international medical journals. Apart from a medical textbook,this is the second novel of the Jack trilogy. The first will be published later this year. view profile

Published on November 02, 2020

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30000 words

Genre: Young Adult

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