Review: Splendidly Fanciful Land
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 24, 2012
This book isn't a bit like "The Hobbit,"  but the Land is just as magical and simple and refreshing as the Shire.  I loved the Beadles and the Myrmidots, and especially the Muddles.  It's the sort of tale where you snuggle your older child in for the night and they happily listen for hours while you both forget the time because the story is enchanting.  On the other hand, I really could see people not loving it as much as I did - simply because the action is lower key and the people so innocent.  If you want blood and gore and steamy sex ... this is not the book for you - because there isn't any.  No, ....  I'll take that back, there is some blood - the adventure is not without peril, but it's not gory, but there are several pretty scary parts.  Parents really should read it ahead of handing it to a child younger than 9, especially if you have a more sensitive child.As I started the book, I wasn't very hopeful, but settled in to rock my baby to sleep, and kept reading to not disturb her, and by the third or fourth chapter, I was pretty much hooked, and by the time I reached the 50% marked, I was enchanted.  It is a simple and sweet story, with mystery and adventure, somewhat the flavor of the Wind in the Willows.There are three groups of people that live in the Land.  Brian is a Beadle, and the first character that you meet.  Life has always been calm and ordered for the Beadles.  They don't like surprises or change or adventure much.  And then the fires started - BLUE fires.  When they fire department tried to put out the fires, the water made the fire even larger and more violent.  They needed help, so Brian was sent to ask the Muddles for help.Muddles are everything that the Beadle's are not ... and they have the strange knack of "Mixing" whenever a bird shaped cloud flies overhead.  You won't believe the trouble that causes in the book!  And the Myrmidots live on the other side of the Muddles - they are stern and ordered and they invent things.Brian doesn't like changes to his routine.  Brian doesn't like surprises.  Brian doesn't like falling into rivers or being sent flying through the air by a Muddle goat.  Brian really doesn't like Muddles.But ... if the fires are not stopped - the Beadles will find it difficult to survive.  So to the Muddles, Brian returns.  They promise to send their own fire truck after much debate ... and they almost catch a lady ... a stranger that nobody knows ... and then she escapes.When some young Muddles spot a woman that nobody knows going across a massive ancient bridge and into the mountains - a place nobody goes and from where no one has ever returned  ... they bring news to the town and suddenly Brian finds himself in charge of far more adventure than he has ever wanted or bargained for.This is not a short book at 336 pages, and it spans at least a month or two of time.  There are so many funny and wonderful people to meet.  The Muddles especially were full of unique and completely surprising individuals.  The three people groups have always lived as isolated as possible from each other, but to solve the mystery of the fires and the strange woman, they will have to work together and venture farther than anyone of them in history has ever ventured before .... or are they?  Leave it to the Muddles to come up with some wonderful surprises and amazing solutions.  Maybe the Muddles aren't so bad after all?Alan Skinner has done a remarkable job at creating a fun and fascinating world of likable characters with realistic personalities and problems.  I laughed, I cried, I stayed up late to read the next chapter ... and the next one ... and the next until I cringed and then laughed at the end.  And you will be so shocked when they all discover the truth, not only about the fires and the strange woman, but also about themselves and the Land that they live in.I find this book rather difficult to do a basic plot ... so I will keep it very short.Beadles buildings are being destroyed by Blue Fire that explodes when sprayed with water.Beadles ask the Muddles for help, and they agree.  Together, they begin to unravel part of the mystery of the Blue Fire.Beadles and the Muddles go to the Myrmidots for help to travel into the mountains.  A team of individuals from each group is selected to travel together.What they find in the mountains .... changes everything they thought they knew about themselves and their home.This book is not so much about the plot, as it is about the people, their land, and learning to set aside prejudice to work together to save them all.