That… was not at all the book I was expecting it to be.

If I were reading this book to my children, I imagine I would have liked it quite a bit more. It’s got the zany sort of weirdness that really appeals to children–it’s in some ways much easier for them to jump from insane to imaginary, while at the same time not needing that much of a reason for things to be like they are.

The whole land of Skree was green and flat. Except for the Stony Mountains in the north, which weren’t flat at all. Nor were they green. They were rather white from all the snow, though if the snow melted, something green might eventually grow there.

The entire prologue is like that. Prologues. There are 3 of them. And they’re all like that.

It’s amusing… and then it’s too much.

That evil was a nameless evil, an evil whose name was Gnag the Nameless.

The characters are cute enough (totally zany and the children end up mostly saving the day), the twists I totally saw coming (but I expect some/many children wouldn’t), and the world and monsters are bizarre.

I’ll have to try it again with my children.

Onward.