susanvoss18

I enjoyed this book from the beginning, in part because there is this fake pamphlet at the beginning that shows the fairgrounds and has lots of words that end in unnecessary ‘e’s. Ye olde booke was a delight from there on out. I could relate to Wendell on many levels. While my parents are still together, plenty of friends and family come from homes with step-parents or grandparents or aunties, etc. acting as the secondary parental figure. Also, he is a book nerd. If you’re here reading this review, then you get that. For the longest time, you could NOT find a SFF novel that portrayed a woman clothed in practical clothing suitable for space flight or dragon combat (some publishers still have this problem and yes, they know who they are), so it’s no surprise that Wendell’s mother’s few lines are about one of his fantasy books that have scantily clad women. Been there. Had that conversation. Then there is the awkward conversations between step-dad Ted and teenaged Wendell. Ah, the awkwardness comes through in simple gestures and looks, thanks to the art work.

The 16th century classic Don Quixote was given several nods in this work (Northrop & Stokely – thanks for that windmill). The knight isn’t quite who I expected him to be, but he eventually gets there in the end. It was a fine journey arc for his character. The clash of the old and the new, the modern-day reality and fantasy don’t clash in this book, but rather shake hands and agree to look the other way. There is this great scene with the motorcycle and a mythical beast that I won’t ruin for you. If I have any complaints, it is that there are zero main female characters, and in fact, zero secondary female characters. But do not despair, this book isn’t as bad as The Hobbit for female character count (which has a grand total of zero females at all – even if you look closely at the donkeys) as there are some female tertiary and very minor side characters.

The art work was crisp and clear, though the modern-day men all had square pants which gave them the unlikely square groin. The biologist in me wanted to know if this was portraying a medical condition, but I told that nosy scientist to shut up and eat popcorn while the rest of me enjoyed my book. The action scenes felt like action scenes. Many of the more heavy or mixed emotional scenes were portrayed with a series of clever gestures and facial expressions.