Goblin Night Fever

The author sent me a copy of this novel to review:

According to folklore, goblins are evil spirits that cause mischief and harm. Indigo Lane proves that theory erroneous in this amusing and bewitching self proclaimed children's story. Wait, did Indigo call this a children’s story? Well, I say this novel is way too scary for a topsider child, it maybe okay for a baby trogg, or murkan. Here is what I would do... I would ditch the cartoon cover, and reclassify this book as young adult literature ( 12-18 years old ). In my opinion YA fiction is the hottest genre in literature today. Come on Indigo, you say this is “the first of three planned books in the Underkingdom series”, so lets make this first book a sort of prequel to the ensuing Underkingdom tales. Didn’t J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit just come to the movies as a prequel after The Lord of the Rings ran it’s course? And what about a Mountain Orc look-alike on the book’s cover, instead of a cartoon. Okay, enough advise, I’m just a reviewer. I did enjoy this first effort by Indigo Lane even though my child years are far behind me. There were some flaws; such as, too many supplementary characters with names to remember, and not enough pages to get warm and fuzzy with most of the characters. But was this a valiant effort? Absolutely!

The protagonists in this fantasy are Angelica and Cassandra Klamp, Chen, and our two wonderful goblin’s, Plopbottle and Broodangle. Angelica is a feisty child who loves Eddie Zombie music, while her sister, Cassandra loves schoolwork. Plopbottle is a two foot tall goblin who loves disco music and the fictitious topsider, Johnny Marino. His goblin friend, Broodangle, is a con-man de jour. Angelica and her classmates at Norbury Park School in London are kidnapped by the Underkingdom and dragged into a very deep abyss underground for unknown reasons. The children are separated into three groups: the fat ones go to food heaven; the bullies go to the trogg/ murkan army; and the incorrigibles, like Angelica, are sent to squad 99 doomed to work on dangerous assignments. It seems that the king of the Underkingdom wants to attack his enemy, the Iron Tooth scum, as King Gnarblad labels them.The problem is that the Iron Tooth territory lies under Paris, France. What does the King have in mind? Why is he fattening up 23 kids? Why are the squad 99 kids chained up at night? What is this monstrous machine the children are helping to build? Once the children are underground, the book sizzles. I suggest you grab a copy of this original fantasy ( don’t be dissuaded by the cartoon cover ) and dig in.

Although I said that there were too many characters with names, there were some good sidebar plots. I thought the continuous conflict between Angelica and the Henderson twins was entertaining. The story of the Brotherhood ( Broodangle is a member ) was hilarious and very topsider-like.The Brotherhood’s oath starts off with...”Now repeat after me,I promise to be dishonest. To be crafty, devious, and cunning at all times...” Is that a riot, or what? Lastly, I liked the Dickens-like names used; such as, Hobshanks, Pinchbeak, Bogmilla De Bogg, Garnax, and Ulrik Deathbringer. Some parts of the novel display Indigo Lane as an apprentice writer, and at other times he seems to break free and show the reader his future writer’s acumen and ability. I like this author and I expect that the next Underkingdom novels will show that the author has improved his prose and has further developed this “work in progress.”

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: In my journeys through bookstores, I have noticed an increase in young adult (YA)  books. This was probably started by J.K.Rowling’s rousing success with the Harry Potter series. Rowling has been quoted as saying...” I just write what I wanted to write. I write what amuses me. It’s totally for myself.” Well she amused herself to a fortune in the YA world. Then we have another success story in Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games . She has been quoted as saying...” I don’t write about adolescence. I write about war. For adolescents.” Well said, but it is still YA literature. And now we come to Rick Riordan, YA writer of The Heroes of Olympus series, and the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Rick Riordan’s advise is...“I tell aspiring writers that you have to find what you MUST write. When you find it, you will know, because the subject matter won’t let you go. It’s not enough to write simply because you think it would be neat to be published. You have to be compelled to write. If you’re not, nothing else that you do matters.” This is good advice for Indigo Lane and his Underkingdom series.

I still can’t get over the fact that so many writers have to publish their own books. I have had many beginning authors send me their novels, and most of them are very good. Why is it so difficult? Llumina Press states...” We know how it feels to get a rejection letter, and how it feels to finally get that book published.  We've been through writer's block, torn our collective hair out trying to find exactly the right words, and suffered over whether to leave our finest phrases in or take them out.” Sometimes I think it’s a matter of luck whether your book gets published, or not. As a matter of fact, what does Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, L. Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics , and Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass have in common? “These are just a few among many famous self-published writers whose works have become Best Sellers. Their works have sold millions of copies because they refused to give up on rejection letters from major publishing houses. After self-publishing their writings their works were subsequently picked up by major publishing houses.”