the_fabric_of_words's review against another edition
4.0
And this book is delightfully gross. If Book 1 was a Creepy, Murderous Jumanji with robots, and Book 2 was a Ray Bradbury-esque Twilight Zone "suburb that will eat you," then this book can only be described as Bionicle, but inside a living (possibly -- probably? -- dead and decomposing) being. The inhabitants are elves and the creature in which they're living is so enormous they haven't explored it all. It's very gross, throughout, but in a good way (?).
The elfi-ish Norumbegans on which Brian (not necessarily Greg) has pinned all his hopes for stopping the Thusser invasion from spreading like a cancer through the suburbs of America have sunk to new lows.
When they "retreated" from Earth through the portal in the mountain, they stepped into ... something alive. It swallowed, numerous times, and destroyed or washed away the beginnings of their new civilization and city. They're left living in squalor and ramshackle buildings hastily carved out of tissue and constructed by the few automatons who weren't washed away. The remainder of the automatons deserted.
Brian, Greg and Kalgrash are rescued by an automaton, Dansig, who trades them to the Norumbegan court in exchange for the deactivated heads of 30 of his automaton comrades. Except the Norumbegans welch on the agreement, because they don't believe automatons are beings.
Then, the Regent to the royal Stub (it's way grosser than you're imagining) is murdered at court. Kalgrash and the boys' automaton rescuer are accused of the assassination. They're deactivated. Brian and Greg are quickly embroiled in court intrigue. Brian is determined to prove Kalgrash and Dansig innocent, get them reactivated and go in search of the means of stopping the Thusser invasion of Earth.
But even in the body of New Norumbega, the Thusser are planning and plotting and so are many, many individuals at court. And like in all the books, things -- specifically the disgusting Royal Stub -- are not what they seem.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
The elfi-ish Norumbegans on which Brian (not necessarily Greg) has pinned all his hopes for stopping the Thusser invasion from spreading like a cancer through the suburbs of America have sunk to new lows.
When they "retreated" from Earth through the portal in the mountain, they stepped into ... something alive. It swallowed, numerous times, and destroyed or washed away the beginnings of their new civilization and city. They're left living in squalor and ramshackle buildings hastily carved out of tissue and constructed by the few automatons who weren't washed away. The remainder of the automatons deserted.
Brian, Greg and Kalgrash are rescued by an automaton, Dansig, who trades them to the Norumbegan court in exchange for the deactivated heads of 30 of his automaton comrades. Except the Norumbegans welch on the agreement, because they don't believe automatons are beings.
Then, the Regent to the royal Stub (it's way grosser than you're imagining) is murdered at court. Kalgrash and the boys' automaton rescuer are accused of the assassination. They're deactivated. Brian and Greg are quickly embroiled in court intrigue. Brian is determined to prove Kalgrash and Dansig innocent, get them reactivated and go in search of the means of stopping the Thusser invasion of Earth.
But even in the body of New Norumbega, the Thusser are planning and plotting and so are many, many individuals at court. And like in all the books, things -- specifically the disgusting Royal Stub -- are not what they seem.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
shakespearesghost's review against another edition
2.0
DNF - bored to tears on this. The first book in the series was awesome, but this is tedious. Got about 75% done and just couldn’t do it.
More...