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Archibald Lox and the Empress of Suanpan: Archibald Lox series, book 2 Kindle Edition
Teaming up again with Inez, they must pit their wits against the infamous Empress of Suanpan.
In a city of gamblers, Archie must stake everything he owns, even his freedom...
Book two of the Archibald Lox series by Darren Shan, the New York Times bestselling YA author of Cirque Du Freak and Lord Loss.
"This second instalment in Shan's new series is even more pacy and exciting than the first." The Bookbag.
"This series just gets better -- makes you want to read Book 3 immediately." Rajiv's Reviews.
"Archibald Lox and the Empress of Suanpan is non-stop adventure from the very first page and once again transports readers to magical realms beyond their wildest imaginations... will appeal to even the most reluctant young readers. Five out of five stars." Addicted to Media.
"Filled with fantastic characters, true to form description, and Shan’s distinct writing style, Archibald Lox is sure to enthrall readers of all ages." The Haunted Wordsmith.
"I believe that the Archibald Lox series has the potential to be the author’s best work since The Saga of Darren Shan, it has the magical, dream-like overtones of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and the captivating, world-hopping drama of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. I can’t recommend it highly enough, perfect for fantasy fans of all ages." Books, Films & Random Lunacy.
"High fantasy that allows you to step away from the real world and into a vivid space of wonder." The Reading Corner For All.
"Perfect for fans of adventurous fantasy stories!" Mind of Luxe.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 30, 2020
- File size1.6 MB
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See full series- Kindle Price:$3.98By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
- Kindle Price:$13.92By placing your order, you're purchasing a license to the content and you agree to the Kindle Store Terms of Use.
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This option includes 3 books.
This option includes 5 books.
This option includes 9 books.
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Product details
- ASIN : B086LLRZFH
- Publisher : Home of the Damned Ltd
- Accessibility : Learn more
- Publication date : March 30, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 1.6 MB
- Simultaneous device usage : Unlimited
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 127 pages
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Book 2 of 9 : Archibald Lox
- Best Sellers Rank: #520,391 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #460 in Children's Paranormal, Occult & Supernatural Books
- #2,840 in Coming of Age Fantasy eBooks
- #4,558 in Coming of Age Fantasy (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Darren Shan's real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy. Although he is Irish, he was born in 1972 in London. He moved to Limerick in Ireland with his parents and younger brother when he was six, and has lived there ever since.
Darren always wanted to be a writer. He bought his first typewriter when he was fourteen and never looked back. He enjoyed his first taste of literary success at fifteen, as a runner-up in a television script-writing competition for RTE in Ireland, with a dark comedy script titled A Day in the Morgue.
Darren was seventeen when he finished his first (unpublished) novel, and wrote lots more unpublished novels over the next several years. All of his early books were adult-oriented. Although Darren liked the idea of writing a children's book one day, he considered himself an adult writer first and foremost, and his initial breakthrough was with an adult book, in 1999, titled Ayuamarca (since re-released as Procession Of The Dead).
In January 2000, Darren's first children's book, Cirque du Freak, was published. The opening book in a twelve book series about vampires (titled The Cirque du Freak series in the USA, but known as The Saga of Darren Shan in the UK and the rest of the world), it attracted rave reviews and an ever-growing army of fans known as the Shansters!
He followed up his vampire saga with The Demonata, a series about demons. Running to ten books in total, The Demonata cemented Shan's place as the Master Of Children's Horror.
Then came The Thin Executioner, a one-off fantasy novel, which Darren has cited as his favourite out of all his books.
Next he wrote The Saga Of Larten Crepsley, a four book prequel series to his original vampire saga, spanning two hundred years in the life of the title character.
Darren then turned to zombies, in the twelve book Zom-B series, which was both his grisliest series (detailing a zombie apocalypse) and his most political (calling attention to the dangers of not taking a stand against racism and fascism). He also wrote a short, tie-in ebook called Zom-B Circus.
There was a very successful manga adaptation of Shan's Cirque Du Freak series, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. It was originally serialized in Japan, but English-language omnibus volumes are now on sale in the USA and UK.
His most recent series is Archibald Lox, an urban fantasy series. It was spread over nine short books, which were later collected into three large trilogies.
In addition to writing for children, Darren has published a number of books for adults, starting with The City Trilogy, comprising Procession Of The Dead, Hell's Horizon and City Of The Snakes.
He followed up the trilogy with a one-off supernatural thrilled called Lady Of The Shades, only available in the USA as an import.
After that he started publishing his adult books under the name of Darren Dash. His Darren Dash books span many different genres -- to date has has tackled horror, science-fiction, thrillers, and even a Shakespearean-inspired Comedy!
By 2023, Darren's books were on sale in every continent, in 40 countries, in 32 languages, and have been children's bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries. The books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, Shan's books have sold over thirty million copies worldwide.
The movie rights to Cirque Du Freak were bought by Universal, and the first movie (which combined elements from the first three books in the series) was released in October 2009, starring newcomer Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, along with a wide array of established stars such as Josh Hutcherson, John C Reilly, Salma Hayek, Willem Defoe and Ken Watanabe. The movie was called Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in February 2010, and is usually available stream on at least one of the major streaming platforms.
A big film buff, with a collection of more than four thousand movies at home, Darren also reads lots of comics and books, and likes to study and collect original artwork, especially comic art and impressionist and post-impressionist art. Other interests include long walks, watching soccer (he's a Tottenham Hotspur and Ireland fan), listening to pop and rock music, theatre, worldwide travel, sampling the delights of both gourmet cuisine and finger-licking junk food, and dreaming up new ways to terrify his readers!
Darren spends most of his time in Limerick, Ireland, with his wife Bas and children Dante and Gaia.
Darren's web site: https://www.darrenshan.com
Darren's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/darrenshanofficial
Darren's Twitter page: https://twitter.com/darrenshan
Customer reviews
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This is my favorite book out of the three!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023The excitement in this book builds to a very climactic ending. But the story doesn’t end here. I’ll bet it continues to build in book 3!
- Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2022Darren Shan is one of the most creative authors I have found yet and book two of his new Archibald Lox series “The Empress Of Suanpan” is certainly no exception! In this fast paced young adult book you learn even more about how the magical and amazing world of the merge works. And you get to see more unique worlds like the island of pineapples and a land ruled by a vicious and ruthless dictator.
This book was a bit short but there is so much packed into it. In “The Empress Of Suanpan”, Archie and Inez go on yet another unexpected adventure in the merge. When an old friend is unable to help Inez, Archie comes to her aid instead. And when a crucial partner to Inez’s mission gets in a bind, Archie risks everything he has to save her.
The only things that I think could make these novels better are adding pictures like in his Zom-B series and to make them into audio books so that I can re listen to them when I don’t have the time to sit down and re read them. The merge is such strange and unusual place so different from our own. I think it would be so cool to have sketches included of at least the really important scenes in the books.
If you have a younger kid or a teenager who really doesn’t care for reading, start them off with a Darren Shan novel! That’s how I found out I liked to read. For years, I thought I hated reading. But it turns out I hated reading because my school liked to try getting the students to enjoy reading my shoving crappy books at us. It took me until I was halfway through middle school to realize this. I one hundred percent guarantee that if I had found his books in elementary school, I would have started then! Have them give his books a try and they might just find that they love reading as well! Some of his other books include “The Cirque Du Freak” series, “Demonata” and “Zom-B.”
- Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 20234.25 daring stars! ***MILD spoilers***
In this, the second book of the series, Archie and Inez must travel through different worlds for Inez to complete her mission. Along the way, they face numerous obstacles and are joined by a group of thespes (thespians) that Inez requires.
They arrive in Suanpan, which is ruled by the evil and trecherous Empress, Urszula. Inhabitants of this world, in order to win various items or have their deepest wishes fulfilled, enter the Empess' "Spin Zone", where she controls the outcome of each "spin" by cheating.
As Archie observes the first few contestants, he manages to unravel the vengeful ruler's method of controlling the spins and challenges her for a fellow thespes', a small, sarcastic girl 600 years old, Baba Jen, freedom from the Empress' servitude.
Urszula accepts Archie's challenge and the game begins. The winner of the best out of 10 spins wins. If Archie looses, he must serve to Empress for 200 years, essentially becoming her slave.
What is the outcome of this treatcherous game? Does Archie defeat Urszula or find himself and Baba Jen indentured to the Empress? Venture along with Archie and the gang to discover the answer!
***No editing errors! Exceptional world building! Humorous and snarky dialogue! And death awaits around every corner!!***
- Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2021I heavily dug this installment.
The first chunk is slow going at first as Archibald makes his way back into the Merge and the quest is the being explored for the next installment.
Once that is done, it quickly picks up pace, and it turns into a very different type of ending as the first.
Not only that, but his skill as a Locksmith is directly tied into Inez's quest as a twist set of ideas. And ties into the climax of this story.
It's not a horror story at all for this one, but the last beat definitely calls back to those flavors that Shan is very much known for.
On to book 3! Vote of Alignment!
- Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2020I loved the author's writing style. This adventure of a young boy, discovering who he is and his amazing ability was a classic lure to keep turning the pages. Subtle subplots with budding romantic feelings only an adolescent could have and a coming of age internal plot as Archie begins to gain confidence, and claim and develop his locksmith ability. Truly an adventure with excellent world building!
- Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2020Darren Shan does it yet again! An inspiration to anything I create with my own pencil, Shan creates another world in our world I wouldn't have dreamt up. This hold great action and the main character Archie is someone that shows bravery and human fear. I cant wait to read the 3rd one. I highly recommend if you need a short fantastic read.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020This is my favorite book out of the three, only because I loved the match between Archie and Urszula. She reminded me a lot of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, where she makes the rules and doesn’t play fair. The game was also very gripping where you don’t know how it will turn out. I loved how Archie is perceptive to his surroundings and looks at things that others ignore.
Also, there are new characters, like the members of Thesp, who add well to the plot. The group make the story interesting with their adventures in Suanpan. Moreover, I loved Archie’s interactions with Winston and felt they shared a history, even though Archie has not met him before.
This series just gets better makes you want to read Book 3 immediately.
5.0 out of 5 starsThis is my favorite book out of the three, only because I loved the match between Archie and Urszula. She reminded me a lot of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, where she makes the rules and doesn’t play fair. The game was also very gripping where you don’t know how it will turn out. I loved how Archie is perceptive to his surroundings and looks at things that others ignore.This is my favorite book out of the three!
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2020
Also, there are new characters, like the members of Thesp, who add well to the plot. The group make the story interesting with their adventures in Suanpan. Moreover, I loved Archie’s interactions with Winston and felt they shared a history, even though Archie has not met him before.
This series just gets better makes you want to read Book 3 immediately.
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2020I am hooked. The chase through the pods kept me cheerleading for my favorite characters. Their concern for those they defeated made me appreciate their integrity. Bring on the next book!
Top reviews from other countries
- Kindle CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars The action starts to zip along...
Anyone who felt that the first book in the series had something of a slow start will be pleased to discover that the second part of the brand new Archibald Lox series is much more energetic. Having thrown off the shackles of having to slowly introduce the elements that make up the fantasy world of The Merge, Shan's now able to get the story to really zip along with some pace.
The overarching mystery of this particular trilogy (What is Inez's mission? Why does she need Archie? etc) continues to expand throughout this novel, and the second part of the adventure serves to introduce us to our cast of colourful side characters, and allow our protagonist Archibald Lox to carry on exploring and developing his newfound lockpicking abilities. This story gives us a very clear antagonist to root against in the titular Empress of Suanpan, a loathsome villainess who hides her cruelty behind a mask of sweetness, in a way that's very reminiscent of Rowling's Dolores Umbridge.
My only criticism here - as childish as it may sound, part of me feels these novels would be massively improved if they had pictures. They have the feel of an epic fantasy adventure, in the vein of His Dark Materials or The Chronicles of Narnia, and some of the set pieces require enormous amounts of fantastical thinking. Much of this novel is set in a city constructed entirely from the beads of an abacus, with each of the beads representing a building. It's a wonderful zany image, but one that's incredibly difficult to describe with words alone. You get the feeling Shan's working within a standard 40,000-50,000 word young adult novel template, and as a result he's having to zip through descriptions at a rate that makes it difficult to truly capture the spectacle he's trying to create. Just the occasional sporadic image (as Shan utilised in his Zom-B series) would go a long way towards making these settings truly leap off the page and into the mind's eye.
- amirReviewed in Canada on March 14, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Really good story
I really like the story. The only I wish would have been for the book had some illustrations to help with the imagination of the lands.
- Tony CalderReviewed in Australia on October 18, 2023
3.0 out of 5 stars A good continuation of the storyline
3 1/2 stars - not quite as good as the first book in the series, but I am not the target audience, so others may disagree - I think the target audience is about the 10-14 age group. Still, it's a fun story, and Darren Shan is building an interesting world in these books. I will read the third book, which completes the first major storyline.
- George BReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 15, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Darren Shan is back and more fantastic than ever!
The internationally acclaimed author makes his long-awaited return to the Young Adult genre with the first three of his Archibald Lox books.
1. Archibald Lox and The Bridge Between Worlds
2. Archibald Lox and the Empress of Suanpan
3. Archibald Lox and the Vote of Alignment
These three stories (which collectively make up the first volume of the series) take us on a thrillingly surreal and gloriously fast-paced fantasy adventure as we follow the protagonist, Archie into an alternate world called the Merge. Shan throws his readers head-first into a mind-bogglingly immersive and delightfully odd new universe populated by extraordinary people with unique magical abilities, bloodthirsty killers with scores to settle and a powerful yet divided royal family who rule over its many wondrous realms. The characters are three-dimentional and thoroughly engaging, the plot ticks along with the exquisite precision of a Swiss watch and as with all Shan tales, there are some jaw-dropping twists to enjoy as well.
This opening trilogy has the rich creative depth and imaginative scope of Philip Pullman's ‘His Dark Materials’ and the intoxicatingly dream-like overtones of Lewis Carroll's ‘Alice’ books. Archibald Lox has all the makings of a YA classic and I can't wait to see where this enthralling series goes next. Highly recommended to fantasy fans of all ages.
- ZotwotReviewed in the United Kingdom on April 15, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars So Much Fun!
This second installment in Darren Shan's series continues with the world and characters set up previously but actually feels like quite a standalone book. Reunited with Inez, Archibald finds himself in the gambling city of Suanpan and someone is going to have to take on the Empress at her own game.
Gambling in literature is often great. In no other medium can you see inside the player's heads and this makes the game all the more interesting. I like it when authors come up with their own betting games and they can work really well if they aren't overly complicated and this game is really simple but effective. Add in the Empress of Suanpan, who reminded me of Futurama's Mom character, an apparently nice lady who is secretly deadly and the lead character working out how she treats is like a fantasy version of James Bond.
This volume distracts from the main arc but it's so much fun that I couldn't help but enjoy it. Very different from book 1 but really enjoyable all the same.