Published By: Macmillan Children’s Books
Pages: 288
Released On: 12/02/2026
Reading Age: 9-11 years
Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson are enjoying an amazing holiday in Rome, until they they are swept up in the mysterious disappearance of world-famous illusionist Kinetic. He vanished during a live broadcast from the Colosseum, but he never reappeared. When Kinetic’s sister finds a strange description in a history book of a gladiator who sounds uncannily like her brother, the friends are determined to help.
They travel through secret time doors to the spectacular — and deadly — Colosseum in Ancient Rome, but can the brave trio survive long enough to find Kinetic and bring him home?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Books for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
This is book three in the Time Keys series, with the previous being:
1. Hunt For the Golden Scarab
2. The Legend of Viking Thunder
I love this series of M.G Leonard’s – even if it is aimed at an audience that I am three times the age of. The first book – Hunt For the Golden Scarab – was fantastic and really re-ignited my love for Ancient Egypt. The second – The Legend of Viking Thunder – was still fabulous but my interests lie more in Egypt than with the Vikings, but it was still a glorious read.
I love that we get to revisit our core cast of characters from the previous books, but we also get new ones which help spice things up a bit, and it’s in their interactions that the core cast get to shine.
Once again it is full of magic and adventure, challenges and danger, fun, love, and friendship.
The gladiator scenes were so pictorial you could clearly see it all so clearly and it was fabulous.
Considering the main cast are children, it can be difficult for a 32-year-old to identify with them and really get invested. But Leonard has given these children such depth and so much to do, they’re so well rounded and just brilliant characters.
This one seems to have a lot more set in today’s world, with the middle chunk set in the past, which gave an interesting comparison to the previous two, but it was still as good as if she’d spent more time in Ancient Rome.
The illustrations are, again, very good. There’s not a huge quantity of them, but they really help add to the depth of the story.
I still believe these books are educational as well as entertaining. It’s fun and exciting and kids will absolutely love it, but it’s also full of teachings. Kids will first learn about the Ancient Egyptians, and then the Vikings, and now Ancient Rome, and hopefully it’ll spark further learning.
I have loved this series as an adult and I would have loved it as a kid. And I really want many more instalments please.
I might have still preferred the first book, but this along with the previous two are brilliant reads. They’re energetic and adventurous and original and just fabulous. I’ve read a number of her books now over the years and I have loved every one of them and have recommended them to people young and old.
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