Sometimes I read a book that I don't know how to describe...in fact, I don't even know if I like it until I'm half way through and realize I can't wait to read the next chapter. The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge is one such book. It's Fablehaven on Red Bull. It's the book that the Monty Python group (ask your parents) would have written, had they written books for teens. It's whimsy and fantasy and reality all mixed together with striking artwork to help tell the story, like Hugo Cabret, perhaps.
Anderson, who has written books such as Feed and Whales on Stilts, creates this world where elves and goblins coexist apart from each other, in their own kingdoms, but who also have a bloody history with each other that is thousands of years old. An elf is sent to the goblin world to make peace, but in reality has gone to kill the goblin king and finish, once and for all, the battle between the two civilizations. With strange art. And humor. And a bit of George Orwell thrown in. Confused? Yeah...you should read this, and when you are 50 pages in and are thinking about giving up because you don't know who is who or what is going on, keep reading. It comes together, and then you can't put it down. Wonderfully odd! 4 paws!
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