The first book in the Camelot Code series, The Once and Future Geek , mixed time travel between the medieval world of King Arthur and our own, and it is a very entertaining book. The second book in the series, Geeks and Holy Grail (Hyperion, October 2019), is also entertaining (though not quite as funny; King Arthur as a modern day high school student is hard to beat....). When Morgana, sworn enemy of King Arthur, attacks the druids of Avalon, Nimue, the youngest of them, takes the Holy Grail and runs with it. King Arthur is dying, and only the Grail can save him. Desperate to keep it from falling into Morgana's hands, she stumbles into Merlin's Crystal Cave. But instead of Merlin there to help her (he's on vacation in Los Vegas, in our time), there's only his very inexperienced apprentice, Emrys. His attempt to hide the grail works, in a sense--as a small, flatulent dragon, it sure doesn't look much like a grail. But it isn't much use to Arthur as a...
Mr. Penguin has always dreamed of being an adventurer. So when he sets up shop along with Colin, a spider friend, offering his services to the townsfolk, he expects to be inundated with requests for help. Finally the phone rings. Boudicca Bones, owner of the Museum of Extraordinary Objects (who's human) needs his help finding the treasure supposedly hidden in the museum.
So Mr. Penguin and Colin set out, and find that being adventurers isn't a walk in the park! Beneath the Museum is a marvelous and dangerous landscape, full of things that could seriously damage anyone exploring there. And then the danger gets even more dangerous, when the adventurers face a dastardly double-cross! Fortunately, Edith (another human) who lives in the park with her pigeon friend, Gordon), thought Mr. Penguin might need some help, and comes to the rescue! The day is saved, the bad guys are caught, and Mr. Penguin and Colin are famous (poor Edith gets a reward, but not the fame....).
It's a fun fast read, that should go down very nicely indeed for younger readers. I didn't see the twist coming, and it upped the level of tension beautifully! The illustrations are amusing, and Mr. Penguin, in his own unheroic and not tremendously useful way, is an appealing character (Colin is much more useful, and I actually liked him better!). Young pedants might be annoyed that Mr. Penguin lives in a igloo and can't swim, but they can get over that.
And as is so often the happy case with series starters for the young, there's not too long to wait for the next installment--Mr. Penguin and the Fortress of Secrets comes out October, 2019!
disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher.
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