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Have you read anything by Ursula Vernon?
If so, you know you want this book already. Do go get it. Good as always.
If not, I recommend doing so promptly. Her Dragonbreath books are aimed at children, being somewhere between the Easy Reader and Middle Grade sections: mostly prose, but with comic sections, and lots of delightful illustrations. Her work under the name T. Kingfisher (mostly self-pub ebooks so far) is excellent fairytale retellings and goblin stories, and I recommend them heartily.
Castle Hangnail is aimed a little above the Dragonbreath books, being a nice solid MG novel with lots of excellent illustrations. The eponymous Castle Hangnail is a castle with a handful of minions waiting for their next Master (Evil Sorceress, Beastlord, Vampire Lord, Wicked Witch, etc.) to show up and take charge before the whole thing is decommissioned and turned into condos for lack of proper magical administration. What they get is Molly: a 12-year-old girl with stompy boots, some witching power, and a determination to do this job properly. Whether it's supposed to be her job or not.
As usual, a lot of the joy in this book comes from the combination of the characters (the minotaur cook with a grudge against the letter Q, the hypochondriac goldfish, the helpful gardener in the local village) and the extremely practical approach to highly strange things. A significant plot point involves plumbing repair, and the difficulty of affording it. The whole story is sweet and fun, with some quiet nods to more serious issues. (Like how to recognize and deal with friends who have been using more than they've been your friends, all along.) It's just...delightful is the word I keep coming back to. I recommend it highly.
If so, you know you want this book already. Do go get it. Good as always.
If not, I recommend doing so promptly. Her Dragonbreath books are aimed at children, being somewhere between the Easy Reader and Middle Grade sections: mostly prose, but with comic sections, and lots of delightful illustrations. Her work under the name T. Kingfisher (mostly self-pub ebooks so far) is excellent fairytale retellings and goblin stories, and I recommend them heartily.
Castle Hangnail is aimed a little above the Dragonbreath books, being a nice solid MG novel with lots of excellent illustrations. The eponymous Castle Hangnail is a castle with a handful of minions waiting for their next Master (Evil Sorceress, Beastlord, Vampire Lord, Wicked Witch, etc.) to show up and take charge before the whole thing is decommissioned and turned into condos for lack of proper magical administration. What they get is Molly: a 12-year-old girl with stompy boots, some witching power, and a determination to do this job properly. Whether it's supposed to be her job or not.
As usual, a lot of the joy in this book comes from the combination of the characters (the minotaur cook with a grudge against the letter Q, the hypochondriac goldfish, the helpful gardener in the local village) and the extremely practical approach to highly strange things. A significant plot point involves plumbing repair, and the difficulty of affording it. The whole story is sweet and fun, with some quiet nods to more serious issues. (Like how to recognize and deal with friends who have been using more than they've been your friends, all along.) It's just...delightful is the word I keep coming back to. I recommend it highly.