Archer’s Goon

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drugi, treći i četvrti nivo su, međutim, fantastika u stilu Dajane Vin Džouns, što će reći atipična i komplikovana za praćenje i urnebesno duhovita i istovremeno rovari po nekim solidno ozbiljnim problemima identiteta i porodične dinamike i i i. I must add that I read this book in one day. One day. I was astounded by the fact that three-fourths of the way through, Jones did a "reveal" about a character I loved which completely ruined my previous love. I hated that betrayal. THEN, she did it again with a different character. Again, I felt betrayed. Story summary: The Sykes are living their ordinary family life, with unwanted music lessons and awful little sisters, until one day, there's an enormous goon in their kitchen. He demands that Mr. Sykes (an author) write two thousand words (any words) for his boss Archer. It turns out Archer is one of seven wizard siblings ruling the town and battling each other for power. And all of them, in their own ways, are out to get Mr. Syke's two thousand words.

This seems to be one of her first books, and it really shows how much she has developed as a writer. The book, while not bad, sometimes loses it's drive and I can't really put my finger on why. Sometimes I just don't want to get things resolved or see how they could be. When some things are revealed, I would have liked the book to end, but it kept going and I didn't particularly care for the ending. I don't really feel that the Bad Guys who get dealt with in the end necessarily are the ones who should be punished. The reveal of what’s actually going on in the town and with the missing words makes this a story that is well worth reading a second (or third!) time, so you can spot all the hints and piece together the clues – they’re subtle enough to miss on a first reading, but they are definitely there. Magical Seventh Son: Although all the siblings are magical, the seventh son is supposed to have twice the gifts of the others. It effortlessly blends past, present, future, ordinary contemporary, fantasy, and sci-fi, of which I have NEVER seen the like. I didn't like Fifi. I don't know.... we just didn't seem like the kind of people who would get along.The accurate representation of authors was the greatest thing ever. Quentin was stereotypical but not so much so that he got annoying, and he was still very real and unique. He was one of my favorites. Family. It's all about family: dysfunctional, chaotic, funny, surprisingly loving and surprisingly heartless.

Sam početak romana, prvih recimo pet-šest strana (jer sve dalje od toga zalazi u teritoriju spojlera) deluje kao Harold Pinter za decu. Trinaestogodišnji junak dolazi kući iz škole i u kuhinji zatiče osobu koja se predstavlja kao "Arčerov siledžija". Osoba izgleda kao Vini Džouns, samo je trideset santimetara viši i srazmerno širi. I došao je zato što junakov otac njegovom gazdi (za koga nikad nije čuo a kamoli poslovao s njim) duguje dve hiljade. I sedeće u kuhinji dok ne dobije te dve hiljade (hint: nisu funte u pitanju). The book is not perfect of course, and there are a couple of notes in particular that stand out reading it as an adult (the reasoning behind Fifi’s final actions in the book, and a couple of moments which feel somewhat like fatphobia spring to mind), but in general, the book is an appropriate read for older children.

The Goon takes Howard to see Mountjoy, who reveals that the town is secretly run by seven wizard siblings: Archer, Shine, Dillian, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine, and Venturus. Each one "farms" some aspects of the town's life and industry (for a list, see below). Mountjoy has instructions from an unknown superior to post the words but does not know who the actual recipient is. There's this concept that I for some reason really love, where people stand for, or even are, ideas or abstractions in some sense. It's a similar idea to anthropomorphism. The Greek gods are a pretty good example of this; some of them are considered actual things, like Helios who is the sun, and and some just have qualities similar to the things and are generally in charge of the things, like Apollo the sun god. In this book, this is realized through the idea of "farming". The wizard siblings "farm" various town functions, like education and infrastructure and future related things, or music and entertainment and shopping and fun related things. What they farm seems related to their personalities and powers in some ways, and you could easily imagine Torquil, for example, as the "god of arts and entertainment". My love for abstraction and structure is quite strong, and trumps realism any day, and this idea is an important reason why I love this book so much. (Some of the other books I like for a similar reason are The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton, The Pilgrim's Regress by C.S. Lewis, and Enchanted by Alethea Kontis. And I'm sure there are more I've forgotten.) Howard’s family, comprising of Quentin, mum Catriona and little sister Awful (actual name Andrea), feels like any family you might know; they may have their arguments, but they are always there for each other, and the banter between them feels genuine. Everyone is imperfect in their own ways, but their dynamic together makes for excellent reading.

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.) Basically it broke my brain, mixed impossible things together extraordinarily well, had mind-blowing plot twists (SERIOUS. PLOT. TWISTS. WOW. *flail*) and was exciting and breathtaking and downright HILARIOUS! Jones’ descriptions throughout the book are simple but effective, easily conjuring up an image of the action; from the way Catriona locates each family member by their noises, to the reflection of each sibling’s character in their surroundings, even to the splart-thump of the soggy hole in Howard’s boot.All in all, the book is okay. The story is interesting and worth reading, but it's not a fast-paced story and some might not be able to finish the book because of it. I like the fact that not once do the seven siblings get referred to as some kind of magic wielders, even though people like to simplify and categorize and I've seen them called "wizards". I like it that you don't really know who they are or where they come from.