First of all, I have to welcome my first follower, Kate. She found me here through facebook, and I actually know her in real life. Hopefully, she'll stick around, comment a bit, and actually enjoy what she reads here. I have to also welcome my first commenter, Clover, who is a friend of mine, we go way back, through Found Magazine. (note to readers. I've learned how to insert links. yay!!!)
I have to explain how it is I came to have this book. I am a follower of Murphblog, which is authored by Paul Michael Murphy (no relation, although we do share a love of parentheses). He ran a contest in April, which I entered. Imagine my surprise when i actually won the contest.Yay Me!! I wasn't announced as the winner for a while, though, as Mr. James Kennedy had a baby in the midst of the voting.Here's Lucy Momo Kennedy!! So, yeah, the prize for the contest was the book, personally signed by Mr. James Kennedy (take a gander at the title page, up there), a soundtrack for the book, and... the piece de resistance, Mr. Kennedy will read part of my Work In Progress. That's the best part, and I'm waiting on that, with bated breath.
"The Order of Odd Fish" is a wonderful book. If I had to compare it to something that's already out there, I'd have to say that there isn't anything quite like it. Although the Lemony Snicket series comes close. It's only vaguely Harry Potter-esque, in that the protagonist, Jo Larouche, is a young adolescent who didn't know she truly was for most of her life. (and i only mention Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling to send errant searchers my way. Also, TWILIGHT!! [that's apropos of nothing, by the way])
Mr. Paul Michael Murphy interviewed James Kennedy on his blog You can read the interview, and actually, read about the contest here as well. In that interview, James talks about the various things that influenced him as a writer. (basically, his entire, crazy life). He credits Madeline L'engle(amazon link here!), Isaac Asimov, Douglas Adams, and so on. He writes with a crazy abandon that is incredibly energetic. It almost bubbles with frenetic energy, but at the same time, you get to know the characters and what drives them. Yeah, and I think it has a bit of a Monty Python feel to it, as well. (however, if you're not a Python fan, don't let that drive you away from it)
Ok.. so far, this hasn't been much of an review. Frankly, I've never done a review before, so what do you expect? I just really, really liked this book. It's so well written, funny, moving, and exciting. There are cockroaches for butlers, bizarre weapons, a quest, a duel, a battle against good and evil, and an unlikely (and unwilling)hero. I think that it's meant for pre-teen to early teen, (I hate pigeonholing books into agegroups, but people seem to like that) However, in the same way that Harry Potter's taken off in every age group, I think that this book will take off in the same way.
