Archer’s Goon

Product Information

Much of the action takes place in a town not too dissimilar to Bristol, the author’s home town, clues coming from (for example) street names like Corn Street, Zed Alley, Woodland Terrace, and Park Row (disguised as Upper Park Street). Although each wizard ruled a section of the town, he or she was a prisoner in it. Each suspected that one of them held the secret behind the words, and that secret was the key to their freedom. Which one of them was it? The Sykes family become pawns in the wizards' fight to win their freedom, wrest control from one another, and fan out to rule the world. 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! 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. The Goon marching them through the office buildings to demand an explanation from Mr. Mountjoy, causing chaos and confusion in their wake.

Episode 2: Howard comes face to face with two of the strange family who are really running the town. Rereading this aloud was so FUN. Doing the voices etc. for this crazy cast of characters was fabulous. I also loved reading it a second time because this time I actually understood what was going on, after all those mindbending plot-twists in the first reading. A.k.a. IT WAS EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME AND I DIDN'T THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE. Amnesiac Dissonance: Venturus spends over a decade in a new identity, with no memory of his former self. When he starts encountering evidence of what he used to be like, he doesn't approve. Thoughts: As I said above, this is about the families. Sibling. Parents. From annoying, to mostly-evil, to decent-but-with-a-selfish-streak-and-a-temptation-to-take-over-the-world. And there's almost nothing I like better than families, especially when it's not the "heartwarming and wholesome" type of story, but filled with grudges and reconciliations and temper tantrums and people who dislike their siblings so much they'll confine them to the sewers for thirteen years.* And yes, also some heartwarming bits too. Fifi reveals to Howard that she did not deliver the two thousand words as she was busy and gave them to one of Quentin's students at the college, Maisie Potter, to deliver. Howard, Awful and Fifi go to Maisie Potter's house to find out what she did with them.She tries to fob them off with excuses as to why the words were not delivered but they finally get the truth out of her: that she gave them to one of the wizard siblings, Dillian. The trio force her to take them to see Dillian.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. In a similar fashion is Howard's escape from Erskine, running through the town causing chaos as all the other siblings give him various forms of aid. It is a weird book. And not extremely deep with the most complex characters or anything. If you're looking for something that isn't funny, strange, light, subtle, and family-friendly, then you probably won't like this.

The characters. I didn't trust any of them, but... yeah. Hathaway was one of my favorites, as was Shine, which is weird I know but whatever. I also really liked Howard.

Contribute to This Page

Torquil and Hathaway's relationship. There's a reason why so many people like Torquil, and this is a large part of it. D'aaaaww, the crying. Reconciliation is the best. Also his obvious loneliness before this happened was sweet and sad. Take Over the World: Most of the siblings have this as their goal as soon as they can leave the city. 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.

This amazing fanart. And also this by the same artist. (Note, there's some other Diana Wynne Jones artwork in there as well. Also excellent.) Weird Tales reviewer John Gregory Betancourt praised the novel as "a witty little urban fantasy [and] a delight to read." [3]I love the way Jones writes. She can put two words together and create magic: "unshaven growl"! "watching sarcastically"! When she's not creating awesome new word combinations, her writing is crisp and clear and so easy to drink down. And this might be a kids' book (my library put it under Juvenile), but I didn't feel like she was dumbing anything down. While investigating, Howard and his sister Awful learn that their town is secretly controlled by seven mysterious siblings — Archer, Torquil, Dillian, Hathaway, Shine, Erskine, and Venturus — at least one of whom seems to be thinking in terms of "tomorrow, the world". MacGuffin: The 2000 words. They do nothing, Venturus set them up to mislead the others and to give his adoptive father tax-free income. In 1992, the book was adapted as a six-part TV series by the BBC. [5] Of the experience, Diana Wynne Jones says: [6]