I loved reading this book. It’s like a fairy tale for adults. Set in the world of Toy City, populated with living toys, it follows Jack and his trusty sidekick bear called Eddie, a detective teddy bear who enjoys a drink. If I didn’t know better, and I don’t, I would guess he is the bear that the movie Ted is based on. Eddie and Jack travel all over Toy City on the trail of a serial killer who is causing the very richest members of Toy City to suffer horrific deaths, leaving behind the calling card of a Chocolate Bunny. Humpty Dumpty, Little Boy Blue, Jack Spratt, Little Tommy Tucker and Mother Goose are among the characters to meet their grisly demise.
If you have even a slight imagination, this book is great to get lost in a fantasy world that takes you on an one heck of an adventure. All the characters in famous nursery rhymes are here as well as many other weird and wonderful characters all brought to life by a friendly old toymaker. The author clearly had a lot of fun writing this book with some great sentences such as this one at the start of chapter 7:
“The fraboius grametting of the lock against its keep was positively malagrous in its percundity. The greebing and snattering was starkly blark.”
It wasn’t until I was googling the fourth or fifth word that I realised he had pretty much made every word up!
As I have said before with great works of fiction it is usually the ending that lets it down for me. That certainly isn’t the case with this book. You have to read it if you enjoy any type of fantasy work. It’s made me want to read a lot more of Robert Rankin’s work.
Favourite quotes from the book:
“When things are not as they appear to be, it’s because they’re actually simpler than you think them to be. The secret is in knowing how to look at them the right way.” – Jack quoting the toymaker, Page 270.
Overall: 88%