Geek Fantasy Novel

February 7, 2011
Author Eliot Schrefer (The Deadly Sister), writing as Archer, turns his hand toward comedic fantasy in this highly self-aware, genre-defying romp. Fourteen-year-old Ralph Stevens escapes his humdrum life when he's invited to spend the summer with his British cousins, ostensibly to set up their wireless network. What he discovers is a family given to eccentricity, from boisterous Cecil to solemn Beatrice and would-be princess Daphne. Things get seriously weird when their infamous aunt/fairy godmother Chessie of Cheshire turns up, ready to grant each child a wish. From that point on, it's pure chaos: Cecil's wish becomes a twisted satire of fairy tale quests and politics invoking the spirits of Terry Pratchett and Monty Python; Daphne's tears apart the classic fairy tale, "The Snow Queen;" and Beatrice's wish takes Ralph into the land of the dead. There's a high level of metatextual playfulness, from a Choose Your Own Adventure–style interlude to the active participation of the narrator(s) and the unconventional ending, which set this book apart from its ilk. Comic and experimental, it may be an acquired taste, but it defies expectations at every turn. Ages 12–up.

March 1, 2011

What are the chances that a granted wish will go off without a hitch—particularly when both the Fairy Godmother and the Narrator are ham-handed bumblers? Rightly regarding their hereditary right to one wish each as a curse, both the aristocratic Battersbys and their American branch, the Stevens family, have forbidden their offspring to make even idle wishes, ever. Enter black-sheep relative the Duchess Chessimyn of Cheshire, who pops up when geeky teen Ralph Stevens visits his three heretofore-unmet British cousins, and persuades the young folk to defy their parents' ban. Disasters ensue. First, idealistic cousin Cecil's efforts to liberate a land of downtrodden fairies kill his gloomy half-sister Beatrice. Then Ralph enters into a determined search through Purgatory's rival cities of the "Recently-Living" and the more gruesomely decomposed "Soon-to-be-Dead" for Beatrice's spirit. The confusion is compounded by the intrusive and increasingly ill-tempered Narrator's efforts to maintain control of the unruly plot. By the end events have taken such a turn for the surreal that a hastily summoned Review Board of the Royal Narratological Society has to step in to right matters. The self-conscious metafictional folderol is likely to lose more readers than it gains, but Archer (pseudonym for YA suspense novelist Eliot Schrefer) creates engaging characters and telling throwaway lines and ultimately wrestles the family conflict at the core of this into a sort of resolution. (Fantasy. 11-13)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

Gr 6-9-Ralph Stevens, 14, is a typical nerd, inept at most things except gaming and computers. The only thing atypical about his life is that his parents have always forbidden him to make wishes of any kind. For some reason, he does not question this odd rule. Then one day he receives a letter from distant relatives in England asking him to spend the summer with them. Disobeying his parents' request that he not go, he books a flight and is soon engrossed in the lives of his cousins Cecil, Beatrice, and Daphne. It turns out that the family's evil Aunt Chessie wants to get hold of all four children, whom she's been barred from seeing. Her motives are unclear, but she wants to grant the cousins' wishes. In this family, wishes are granted only after the wishers complete a fairy-tale-inspired quest, and soon arrogant Cecil is off on his adventure. What ensues is a labyrinth of stories within stories with an abundance of hackneyed fable motifs ranging from fairies to evil queens, and even a dip into the underworld. Characters are killed and resurrected multiple times on their journeys. What makes the book even more annoying, however, is the narrator, who is also a character. He interrupts the action over and over again, even when he claims he will stop. Although he may evoke a few chuckles, the humor does not save his grating voice. Add his part to the meandering plot, weak character development, cliched themes, and ridiculous side stories, and the result is a totally unsatisfying book.-Lauren Newman, Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School, Columbus, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Grades 5-8 Wishes are forbidden in the Stevens and Battersby magical families, and when Ralph Stevens visits his three British Battersby cousins, all four learn very quickly what dangers arise when they wish themselves out of the contemporary world and into fantasy quests of their own choosing. Such wish quests are peopled by actors to play the goblins and mentors and all that rot and incorporate things as disparate as fire-burping bunnies and a Snow Queen, but they can turn deadly just the same. Aggressively precocious humor along the lines of Lemony Snicket or Monty Python characterizes this first novel, which also features an affected narrator who inconsistently comes in and out of the story and page numbers that appear in roman numerals. Archers quirky treatment of wishes (something to be avoided) and quests (arranged by relatives), the choose-your-own-adventure feel, and the imaginative scenery and populace within the quests will definitely score high marks with many readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)