My girls enjoyed Kai Meyer's Flowing Queen trilogy [known as "Dark Reflections" trilogy in the US]. This synopsis of the climactic third volume may help you decide if it's for your young friends :

Merle, the Flowing Queen and Vermithrax the stone lion are flying to ask Lord Light for help to save Venice. As they soar over the ravaged landscape, they see Egyptians raising the dead to add to their mummy armies. They plunge into the depths of Hell, only to discover that Lord Light is not who he seems, and that Junipa has had a terrible operation performed on her. But perhaps the unknown power of the Stone Light - radiating intensity from the centre of Hell - can help them escape? They can only hope so as they flee the enraged inhabitants of Hell...Meanwhile, in a Venice overrun with mummies, Serafin the Master Thief has to turn Master Assassin. His target - the Pharoah himself. With a powerful sphinx and a mermaid on his side, can this daring plot possibly succeed?

At Amazon : volume 1, the Water Mirror (US name) (UK name is "The flowing queen")

The other volumes of the trilogy are "The glass word" and "The stone light".

Fun anecdote : I know the American editor. She had a fight with her publisher over the title "The Flowing Queen". They thought it sounded too menstrual or something. Hence the renaming.


_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}