Friday, October 11, 2019

Book review - Mr. Penguin and the Fotress of Secrets

Title: Mr. Penguin and the Fortress of Secrets
Author: Alex T. Smith
Genre: early chapter book
Similar books: Fabio, the World's BestGreatest Flamingo Detective by Laura James
                      Snazzy Cat Capers by Deanna Kent
Rating:
Silly fun

Summary (provided by publisher): From the international bestselling creator of Claude comes a brand new hero: Mr Penguin. Indiana Jones meets Hercule Poirot in this series from Alex T. Smith. Follow Mr Penguin and Colin as they crash-land on a snowy mountain. Will they be able to solve the mystery of the missing pets? What are the strange noises coming from the abandoned fortress? And will Mr Penguin conquer his fear of flying?Find out in the second Mr Penguin book with plenty of slapstick humour, mystery and adventure. Highly illustrated throughout with a striking black and orange design.

My opinion: I had a few reserves about this book, mostly because I didn't love book one as much as I'd hoped. Book one was less cheeky with a more focused plot than Smith's previous series. I'm glad I gave this one a chance, because it's much stronger than the introductory volume. Now that we've met the characters and their world is established Smith has more room to develop the plot. And since he's more familiar with the characters, he's beginning to hit the perfect humor notes, just the right level of nonsense. So we get a bit more of the silly humor and oddball elements we saw in Claude the dog but with a more adventure focused plot.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

No comments:

Post a Comment