Review: Brilliant in places, but overall a bit odd
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 11, 2011
I bought this book a while back thinking my 10-year-old son would enjoy it. He hasn't gotten to it, but I read it and I'm not entirely sure what I think of it. It starts out with... well a bloated dead goat. A little odd and you know you're in for a bit of a ride.The writing is pretty well done. I will admit that the introduction of so many characters of different species completely lost me a few times and I had to flip back to remember who was who. Between that and the jumping around in scenes, it kind of felt like a bit of a mess.Some parts of it are quite brilliant. For instance, the characters talk about the author and to you, reminding you are reading a book, etc. It works, but I think the shtick might have been slightly overdone.I still think I would recommend this to 7th-8th graders. They might get a kick out of it. I would absolutely let my 4th grader read it as well, but I think some of it might go over his head.