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3 oeuvres 22 utilisateurs 2 critiques

Séries

Œuvres de Mark Leiknes

Cow and Boy (2008) 9 exemplaires

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Date de naissance
20th Century
Sexe
male

Membres

Critiques

Quests and curses come together in the most unexpected ways in this silly adventure.

Ned and his friends are taking a rest after the last adventure, which had them up against a dragon. Of course, things can't stay quite. A gloomy prophecy from some guy named Doug has a dark shadow hanging over the kingdoms. If that wasn't enough to lure the group onto a new quest, Ned also has reason to believe that his parents might still be alive. Determined to get to the bottom of everything, the group sets off on a ship with a sailor, who may or may not know what he's doing. Either way, adventure is unavoidable, and it never comes as any of them might of predicted.

While this book takes off where the last one ended, it's still no problem to sink right in without having the entire background. In other words, this can be read as a stand alone.

After reading the first book in the series, I was ready to dive into a delightful mix of adventure and humor...and this book delivers. Ned and his friends have gained experience in their roles as questers, and hit these adventures with a little more experience. Not that it really helps, since the circumstances they run across are always unpredictable and, often, ridiculous. Nothing is as it first appears and requires very unique solutions. This mixes with more straight-forward humor to create a fun read the entire way through. The danger adds the right spark of tension to push the tale forward and has the reader wondering if the friends will survive.

The font is on the larger side and weaves with illustrations on every page. At times, this even swings into the graphic novel direction. The graphics bring across the friends and situations nicely and add to each scene. Despite both of these, the text isn't overly simple but does fit well to the intended age group. I'd even recommend this for the upper end of the middle grade range, not only due to this, but also because several puns or jokes seem to fit better to slightly older readers.

It's a fun read with a very unexpected ending, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Ned and his gang are headed next.
I received an ARC, am giving this 4.5 stars, and rounding up.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
tdrecker | Aug 11, 2023 |
Packed with dangerous moments, never-ending quests, and a group of friends, who might be in over their heads, these pages deliver tons of humor and even more illustrations to go with it.

Ned is the 11-year-old leader of his band of friends, the Quest Kids, who are ready to take on any quest granted to them, which considering they are kids, isn't exactly many. When they sneak in on a quest to steal the golden pants off of a dragon, things get much more complicated quickly. Realizing that the town, which indirectly hired them, lied about the situation, the Quest Kids soon find themselves on a new quest...and things just grow crazier and crazier from there.

There's so much to enjoy in this read, and I have no doubt middle graders (and even some older readers) will enjoy the ridiculous fun. The rag-tag-team of questers is a great band of misfits, which bond together in an odd friendship. And to say that they each hold their own edges and corners is an understatement, and they do get into each other's hair, at times, but all is good. They have heart. Tons of it, and no matter how difficult and absurd everything may get, this group sticks together. Which is great because it's the only reason they make it through.

Illustrations abound and make the tale radiate with all of its odd amazingness, as this book teeters right between illustrated novel and graphic novel. While Ned's narrative of their adventure (in which he tends to humorously get sidetracked constantly) drives the text, all the lovely details in the illustrations bring it to silly heights. The side remarks of the characters made me chuckle and laugh.

I can recommend this one to humor fans, adventure originals, and even reluctant readers, who love ridiculous quests, uncertain heroes, and more than just a battle with a fire breathing dragon or two.
… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
tdrecker | Oct 25, 2022 |

Statistiques

Œuvres
3
Membres
22
Popularité
#553,378
Évaluation
5.0
Critiques
2
ISBN
6