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The Indigo King (2008)

by James A. Owen(Favorite Author)

4.14 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1416951075 (ISBN13: 9781416951070)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

series

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica

review 1: This one had a rather different feel from the first two, especially in the beginning. Their first "journey," so to speak, took them to an environment that was much darker than anything we'd seen previously. Initially, I was thinking it had kind of a Tim Burton feel, but then I started finding it much creepier than that, but I couldn't quite place what it reminded me of. Then I made the mistake of pondering the matter while I was in bed, and that did not make going to sleep any easier. I still haven't figured it out, either.In any case, once we moved on from that exceptionally creepy set-up, things felt a little more like the first two books. Adventures, problems to solve, literary figures to identify, etc. And badgers. There were still badgers, so that's good.Much of this ... morebook revolved around the Arthurian legend, and I'm not sure how I felt about that. The author's note said that he very deliberately chose to screw around with the relationships of that story, and I'm really not sure I dig that. I've always had a certain attachment to that story, and while I'm down with alternative interpretations of it (My own personal favourite incarnation makes the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle a way bigger deal than most.), this messing around with all the family relationships and even tying the whole mess to the Homeric epics? Not sure I'm on board with that, but there it was. I'm not so upset by it that I won't continue with the series.I have to object to one line, though. I realize that Owen is American, and he's writing primarily for an American audience, but his main characters are Oxford scholars. And there is no way an Englishman from Oxford would refer to the speech of a dude form Connecticut as "perfect, unaccented American English."
review 2: The third adventure in the series mainly features Jack and John...Charles being conveniently away when this unexpected challenge/adventure finds them. Hugo Dyson, a friend, is introduced to readers, when he is thrown into the adventure. He may not know where he is or why he's there, but, he is perhaps *safer* than Jack and John...at least temporarily. For after Hugo disappears through the mystery-door-that-appears-out-of-nowhere, and that mystery door is shut by some well-meaning animals from the Archipelago of Dreams, their whole world changes...for the worse. The "real world" is dark and dangerous and ruled by the Winter King. The two aren't without some hope, they discover their good friend, Bert, who has been waiting and waiting for them. And he gives them hope, a time machine of Jules Verne and a mystery box. These friends, these caretakers, will have to journey through time--observing things very carefully--and have to use some wisdom and discretion on what to change and what not to change. Can they "fix" time and save the world? While the second adventure used Peter Pan and Jason and Medea for inspiration, this one uses King Arthur and Odysseus and the Trojan War. It also is the novel that introduces the young woman, Rose. less

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