Oxford children’s author Julia Golding has created a pair of parallel worlds in her upside-down version of the legend of King Arthur for youngsters, called Young Knights of the Round Table, the first in a new series published by OUP at £6.99.

At the start, we learn that abandoned babies are stolen from our world by the Fey, and whisked off to their magical realm Avalon, where they are trained as warriors.

But now there are rumours that a new generation of knights are re-forming to attack Avalon, and so three of the changelings – Rick, Roxy and Tiago – are dispatched to earth to find those responsible.

Specifically, the three are sent to England — indeed, to Oxford — and, more specifically, enrol at the fictional Isis Comprehensive School. Parallels are easy to imagine. The description of how these changelings try to fit in with their teenage contemporaries — they have been told how human teenagers behave — is amusing, but the fun soon turns into danger when they get close to their target.

Part one of a trilogy, this is an enjoyable book for youngsters, with added local intrigue.