Larklight: okay, let me just say, this was a seriously fun book. The plot was entertaining, the characters were more than adequate--some of them very charming, indeed--and the overall cleverness and humor was just plain great. This steampunk sci-fi is set around the 1800s, with pretty much the same sort of British, Victorian-era society, but added in spaceships, alien species, other planets, moons, and asteroids, a plethora of pleasing plot-twists, pirates (YES, I love pirates!) and, of course, the nationalistic British. (Listening to Weezer's "The British Are Coming" from their album
Everything Will be Alright in the End beforehand made the experience particularly ironic...)
Anyway, the story revolved around Arthur and Myrtle Mumbly, brother and sister whose floating home of Larklight is assaulted by some sinister spiders. After a narrow escape, the pair cross paths with the pirate captain Jack Havok and the crew of the Sophronia, which leads them from one adventure to the next in their quest to... well... they do a lot of things, actually. But I won't spoil anything else.
Anywho, it occurred to me that if I'm giving a book review, I may as well rate it. Although, really, I don't know what the rating would be for. Um, like, age group? Or how good it was? Urgh, this is making my brains hurt.
In the end, I'll give it a 10/10 for sheer enjoyment. Bonus points awarded for:
- Having a narrator with a British accent.
- Having a narrator who is constantly shouting, "Huzzah!"
- Swapping to the narrator's sister occasionally
- Being ------- funny! (Excuse my Martian)
- Using dashed lines instead of actual bad words.
- Combing history with imagination
In the end, I would recommend this book to a teen audience for mild language and some romance, although considering it's narrated by a twelve-year-old boy who makes humorous comments about how disgusting affection is, I think it's safe to label this case as mild. Still, the overall book was awesome. I give it a double-thumbs-up and a salute to the illustrator.
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