Archer’s Goon

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Creative subjects, in the form of literature, music and the arts vie with science and technology, to the ultimate detriment of the latter, in philosophical terms at least. The list of ten facts at the beginning. It's hilarious, and sets a good tone for the rest of the book. "When an irresistible force meets an immovable object, the result is a family fight" indeed. (Only problem is, I never got #2: "Pigs have wings, making them hard to catch." Still don't. Is it some sort of vague reference to how many impossible things happen in this book? Cause "when pigs fly" means something impossible? Seems a little non-specific compared to the rest of the facts, though. Don't get it. EDIT: explained here; still don't completely get it; gonna have Consider this a more cheerful version of Jones' Eight Days of Luke with a hint of Gaiman's Endless thrown into the mix. Seven powerful wizards control Howard's town, and he and his family visit each of them, trying to free themselves from their meddling, eavesdropping ways. It's got a quest, fantastic events, and a strong sense of family.

EAN: 9780688025823], [SC: 25.34], [PU: New York: Greenwillow Books, 1984. dj], WIZARDS, CHILDREN'S FANTASY, TIME PARADOXES, ALTERNATE WORLDS, HARDCOVER FIRST EDITION - AND ILLUSTRATED NO… More...

The anticipation was well worth it, too. The book starts immediately with the introduction of the Goon of the title (an oversized ogre of a man) crowding the Sykes household, which consists of the protagonist Howard, aged 13; his little sister Awful; their live-in sitter Fifi; their father Quentin, a writer; and their mother Catriona, a music teacher. Archer sent the Goon there to collect 2,000 words from Quentin, something that Archer...and Archer's brothers and sisters...believe is keeping them from ruling the world. Wait? What was that again?

The rest of the plot is far too convoluted to briefly summarise, nor is it desirable to indicate how it may ultimately resolved; all we’re aware of is that it’s up to Howard, who dreams of designing spaceships, to investigate — with both help and obstacles from Archer’s Goon — and that the teenager is somehow key to all the mysteries.Fifi reveals to Howard that she did not deliver the two thousand words as she was busy and gave them to one of Quentin's students at the college, Maisie Potter, to deliver. Howard, Awful and Fifi go to Maisie Potter's house to find out what she did with them.She tries to fob them off with excuses as to why the words were not delivered but they finally get the truth out of her: that she gave them to one of the wizard siblings, Dillian. The trio force her to take them to see Dillian. It is a weird book. And not extremely deep with the most complex characters or anything. If you're looking for something that isn't funny, strange, light, subtle, and family-friendly, then you probably won't like this. And in the end, you're left with so many questions--not the bad kind that leave things unfinished and bug you forever and indicate bad storytelling, but wonderful areas to imagine about. Like... Who ARE these people? Aliens? How did they get here? What are their parents like? (Must be amazing (in maybe an awful way) with children like those...) What will the people on the spaceship do? Will they survive and try to take over a different planet? Will Erskine try to farm the world? Will Awful try to farm the world with him? (I'm suspecting since Venturus is good with future stuff, maybe he can see the future to a certain extent and his intuition about Erskine was correct. Although maybe with Venturus's influence it will turn out differently.) The Goon talks like Freddy from Cotillion, probably my favourite book by Georgette Heyer. For this reason, and because I often have a fondness for large, stupid people (especially when they're actually a lot cleverer than people think), the Goon is my favourite character. He's also surprisingly sweet, especially when you get to know his real motivations. In 1992, the book was adapted as a six-part TV series by the BBC. [5] Of the experience, Diana Wynne Jones says: [6]