A Peculiar Peril

May 15, 2020
Family secrets give way to a madcap marathon portal fantasy. Tasked with cataloging his dead hoarder grandfather's mansion's contents, 16-year-old recently orphaned naturalist Jonathan also puzzles over his grandfather's nonsensical instructions. Strange and dangerous things lead Jonathan to conclude his grandfather was murdered--a conclusion reached too late to prevent school friends Rack and his good-natured, athletic sister, Danny, from arriving to help. Meanwhile, on parallel world Aurora, Aleister Crowley, aided by his grotesque familiar, Wretch, and the head of Napoleon, is the Lord Emperor of the Franco-Germanic Empire, seeking to conquer Prague (with mecha-elephants) and England (by attacking the wall on the land bridge--a wall whose defenders wear cod-head-shaped codpieces--with a doomsday earthworm-dreadnought devised by Jules Verne for use against H.G. Wells). As the mansion has doors between worlds, the Earth gang (with Jonathan theorized to be special) decides to help the Order of the Third Door against Crowley to prevent the war's reaching Earth. Aurora's an enthusiastic hodgepodge of antique fantasy elements (talking animals), touches of cosmic horror, clever wordplay, genre deconstruction, and butt humor, all tied together with a just-go-with-it fever-dream logic. Constant viewpoint jumps (including a MacGuffin-turned-narrator) slow down the already meandering, tangent-heavy, complicated (spies spying spies) story's pace but allow for savoring weirdness until the cliffhanger ending. Jonathan and Danny seem to be white; Jonathan is asexual and Danny is bisexual. Danish Korean adoptee Rack uses a prosthetic leg. Absolutely blonkers; giddiness-inducing for the most open-minded of readers. (Fantasy. 12-adult)

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2020
Jonathan Lambshead plans to spend his summer inventorying the English countryside manor of his dead grandfather, Dr. Thackery “Thwack” Lambshead—a task the 16-year-old orphan must complete before inheriting Thwack’s estate. Assisting are classmate Danielle Rackham, 17, and her adopted brother, Dirk Wulf Rackham—a grad student with a prosthetic left leg and a damaged right foot. Thwack left Jonathan cryptic instructions regarding bird-children, a quest, and the Order of the Third Door, which Jonathan suspects are dementia-inspired nonsense. Then he finds a portal to Aurora, an alternate Earth full of talking animals and vegetables where warlock Aleister Crowley (aided by his bat-monster familiar and Napoleon’s
disembodied head) intends to capture an alchemical energy source and use its power to become Lord of Everything—actual Earth included—unless Jonathan and company can stop him. First in a duology, adult author VanderMeer’s sprawling YA debut offers a riotous, slyly sophisticated take on the hero’s journey. Boldly drawn characters, sublimely ridiculous worldbuilding, and a witty, prismatic narrative further distinguish the unique tale. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sally Harding, CookeMcDermid.

Starred review from June 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Adult best-selling author VanderMeer (Annihilation, 2014) turns to YA in this elaborate fantasy that in reality will enamor adult readers as much as teens. Taking the peculiar darkness of Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine series and the absurd humor and wit of Terry Pratchett, VanderMeer dreams up a wholly original tale, filled with complexity, imagination, and talking marmots. Here readers step into a multiverse, where different worlds are connected by magical doors, protected by the secret Order of the Third Door. Most people live their entire lives none the wiser, but 16-year-old Jonathan Lambshead gets pulled into the Order's sphere and a larger magical war upon the death of his eccentric grandfather, whose house of oddities and legacy as an Order member is left to the young man. The reader is tossed into a bewilderingly strange alternate Earth called Aurora, along with Jonathan and his two friends, Rack and Danny. Chapters focus among a variety of magicians, spies, beasts, and historical figures (Jules Verne, Napoleon, and Aleister Crowley, to name a few) set on new trajectories, gradually bringing these disparate players into a unified narrative. It's a wild ride that requires a few leaps of faith from readers, but they're in good hands with VanderMeer, who has a sequel in the works for those who emerge victorious from Aurora.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)