A potent blend of magic, adventure, and humor.
In the debut volume of An Epic Series of Failures, 13-year-old Greg Belmont embarks on an adventure he never could have imagined.
When Greg’s father, who runs the Earthen Goods and Organic Harmony Shop, returns from a trip to Norway with a mysterious new tea, Greg sips some and has his first taste of magic. Turns out, he’s a Dwarf, and his best friend, Edwin, is an Elf—and when Greg’s father is kidnapped, ancient strife between Dwarves and Elves is resumed. In his first-person, dialogue-rich narrative, Rylander creates a world where humans unknowingly coexist with Dwarves, Elves, Mountain Trolls, Werewolves, and Goblins. Greg teams up with a band of new friends—including Ari, a “pretty Dwarven girl” with punk-styled purple hair—to battle the Elves and find his father. The fight signals the return of magic to the world, an event that may well end the Technological Age: no more internet, TVs, planes, and electricity, an idea sure to intrigue young readers. The tale, rich in Dwarven and Elven lore and ancient magic, is, at its heart, a tale of a young boy coming into his own. Physical descriptions are scanty, with the book assuming a white default.
A potent blend of magic, adventure, and humor. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-3972-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride.
Zipping back and forth in time atop outsized robo–bell bottoms, mad inventor Tippy Tinkletrousers (aka Professor Poopypants) legs his way to center stage in this slightly less-labored continuation of episode 9.
The action commences after a rambling recap and a warning not to laugh or smile on pain of being forced to read Sarah Plain and Tall. Pilkey first sends his peevish protagonist back a short while to save the Earth (destroyed in the previous episode), then on to various prehistoric eras in pursuit of George, Harold and the Captain. It’s all pretty much an excuse for many butt jokes, dashes of off-color humor (“Tippy pressed the button on his Freezy-Beam 4000, causing it to rise from the depths of his Robo-Pants”), a lengthy wordless comic and two tussles in “Flip-o-rama.” Still, the chase kicks off an ice age, the extinction of the dinosaurs and the Big Bang (here the Big “Ka-Bloosh!”). It ends with a harrowing glimpse of what George and Harold would become if they decided to go straight. The author also chucks in a poopy-doo-doo song with musical notation (credited to Albert P. Einstein) and plenty of ink-and-wash cartoon illustrations to crank up the ongoing frenzy.
Series fans, at least, will take this outing (and clear evidence of more to come) in stride. (Fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-17536-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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