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[ Geek Fantasy Novel[ GEEK FANTASY NOVEL ] By Archer, E. ( Author )Apr-01-2011 Hardcover By Archer, E. ( Author ) Hardcover 2011 ]
What happens when a science geek and magic collide?Be careful what you wish for. Really. Because wishes are bad. Very bad. They can get you trapped in fantasy worlds full of killer bunny rabbits, evil aunts, and bothersome bacteria, for example. Or at least that's Ralph's experience. He's been asked to spend the summer with his strange British relatives at their old manor house in order to set up their Wi-Fi network. But there's much more to it than that, of course. It's just that nobody told Ralph. He's a gamer, sure. But this game is much stranger--and funnier--than anything to be found on his xbox. He is a geek. This is his story.
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First published March 29, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
September 6, 2019
This book is a meandering, young adult novel that takes the reader into weird fantasy worlds through the power of wishes and on an epic quest by an unexpected hero who strives to make everything right, when things continually go wrong.
Along the way, you experience fairies, snow queens, the undead, and plenty of teen angst.
"(Ralph's parents) were, in fact, endlessly tolerant — except when it came to their one ironclad rule: Ralph must never, ever, make a wish. Not under any circumstances whatsoever." pg IV
I thought I would enjoy this story more than I did. The trouble is I don't feel like the author successfully managed to tie the different pieces of the story together. It was disjointed and strange, but not in a good way.
That might appeal to some readers, but not me.
"I think she really wants to be the characters she reads about." "Well, I guess that's the point of it all," Ralph said, out of dork solidarity. pg XXIV
Some of the details of the fantasy worlds were amusing and most certainly will appeal to young adult and reluctant readers.
"These tree-homes are lovely to look at, but so intricate that fairies spend almost all of their waking hours building and maintaining and getting lost in them. Which is a shame, really, since that leaves them so much less time for gamboling about meadows, visiting wishing wells, leaving money in return for teeth, and such." pg CVII
In the way it wandered through completely different fantasy worlds, it reminded me of The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear... until the unexpected ending.
"In a wish, when one is pursuing one's greatest desires, one isn't killed by microbes. One is killed by monsters. That's what makes it so great." pg CXXII
Recommended, with reservations, for young adult readers who are more interested in the journey than character building.
Along the way, you experience fairies, snow queens, the undead, and plenty of teen angst.
"(Ralph's parents) were, in fact, endlessly tolerant — except when it came to their one ironclad rule: Ralph must never, ever, make a wish. Not under any circumstances whatsoever." pg IV
I thought I would enjoy this story more than I did. The trouble is I don't feel like the author successfully managed to tie the different pieces of the story together. It was disjointed and strange, but not in a good way.
That might appeal to some readers, but not me.
"I think she really wants to be the characters she reads about." "Well, I guess that's the point of it all," Ralph said, out of dork solidarity. pg XXIV
Some of the details of the fantasy worlds were amusing and most certainly will appeal to young adult and reluctant readers.
"These tree-homes are lovely to look at, but so intricate that fairies spend almost all of their waking hours building and maintaining and getting lost in them. Which is a shame, really, since that leaves them so much less time for gamboling about meadows, visiting wishing wells, leaving money in return for teeth, and such." pg CVII
In the way it wandered through completely different fantasy worlds, it reminded me of The 13½ Lives of Captain Bluebear... until the unexpected ending.
"In a wish, when one is pursuing one's greatest desires, one isn't killed by microbes. One is killed by monsters. That's what makes it so great." pg CXXII
Recommended, with reservations, for young adult readers who are more interested in the journey than character building.
February 7, 2012
This book had the perfect premise for me. I mean a geek ends up wished into fantasyland. What's not to like about that for a RPG-playing geek like me?
Well, it turns out, quite a lot.
First of all, here is another book where the part that's advertised is only the first third or so and the rest is totally different. There are reasons why each section of the book is very different than the rest (as the result of different people's wishes landing the MC in different types of fantasy worlds), but the geek ending up in the D&D-like world with the exploding bunnies only happens in one section of the novel. The other sections are a fairytale world, an underworld, narrator intrusions, and the first section, appropriately named "The Boring Part." I admit, I was bored during the boring part. What surprised me was that I was also bored during the D&D-like fantasy world. I got a little more interested in the Snow Queen section, and even more so in the underworld section, but those first two sections dragged on and on.
Something changed during the 3rd section. Sure, the type of fantasy was more interesting. And I found Daphne a more delightful hero than Ralph. But what really starts happening here is that the omniscient narrator starts intruding. So the narration gains voice, and this probably made it a little more engaging. This voice gets more intrusive as the book goes on, and the narrator is a character in the end.
And here we run into one of the book's problems. It feels very much like as the book progressed, the author thought of cool things to add...but never got around to editing the beginning to match. The voicey narrator is non-existent in The Boring Part (but the end of the book would suggest he had to be telling the whole thing), a distant figure in the sky in the first wish, and then all of a sudden is intrusive and argumentative from the 2nd wish on. In the 3rd wish, he suddenly is in love with one of the girls, never having shown any preference for her before (meanwhile, he tells you Ralph has fallen for both girls, even though one is a child?). Things are left unresolved (why is Ralph in color while everyone else is black and white? *shrugs*) or forgotten (Ralph's allergies in the 1st wish were pretty important until they weren't). Characters that shouldn't be affected by the narrator pop up where they have no reason to be. And characters just suddenly act however is most convenient for them to act in the moment.
Speaking of how characters act, here is where my main disappointment in the book was: I never bought Ralph as a geek. Seriously, we are told he's a geek, but he doesn't act geeky. If you stick a gamer (video or tabletop or LARP) in the middle of fantasyland, he's going to geek out on you. He's going to think he knows exactly what to do. He's going to follow the constructs of games he knows. And if he's super-geeky, he's going to think he knows where those games fail to address the "real world," and still think he knows exactly what to do. He's not going to be able to stop thinking about and talking about games he's played (this might be true in the real world too). Only once (and it wasn't the D&D world) did Ralph think, "if I was in a game, I'd press these buttons and get free." I honestly don't even understand the point of calling it a "Geek Fantasy Novel" if the geekiness was non-existent in the fantasy worlds (except that it markets the book to geeks).
So. Recommended for fans of meta-fiction, stories that forget what they're doing, and non-geeks looking for a minor step towards reading about geeky MCs
Well, it turns out, quite a lot.
First of all, here is another book where the part that's advertised is only the first third or so and the rest is totally different. There are reasons why each section of the book is very different than the rest (as the result of different people's wishes landing the MC in different types of fantasy worlds), but the geek ending up in the D&D-like world with the exploding bunnies only happens in one section of the novel. The other sections are a fairytale world, an underworld, narrator intrusions, and the first section, appropriately named "The Boring Part." I admit, I was bored during the boring part. What surprised me was that I was also bored during the D&D-like fantasy world. I got a little more interested in the Snow Queen section, and even more so in the underworld section, but those first two sections dragged on and on.
Something changed during the 3rd section. Sure, the type of fantasy was more interesting. And I found Daphne a more delightful hero than Ralph. But what really starts happening here is that the omniscient narrator starts intruding. So the narration gains voice, and this probably made it a little more engaging. This voice gets more intrusive as the book goes on, and the narrator is a character in the end.
And here we run into one of the book's problems. It feels very much like as the book progressed, the author thought of cool things to add...but never got around to editing the beginning to match. The voicey narrator is non-existent in The Boring Part (but the end of the book would suggest he had to be telling the whole thing), a distant figure in the sky in the first wish, and then all of a sudden is intrusive and argumentative from the 2nd wish on. In the 3rd wish, he suddenly is in love with one of the girls, never having shown any preference for her before (meanwhile, he tells you Ralph has fallen for both girls, even though one is a child?). Things are left unresolved (why is Ralph in color while everyone else is black and white? *shrugs*) or forgotten (Ralph's allergies in the 1st wish were pretty important until they weren't). Characters that shouldn't be affected by the narrator pop up where they have no reason to be. And characters just suddenly act however is most convenient for them to act in the moment.
Speaking of how characters act, here is where my main disappointment in the book was: I never bought Ralph as a geek. Seriously, we are told he's a geek, but he doesn't act geeky. If you stick a gamer (video or tabletop or LARP) in the middle of fantasyland, he's going to geek out on you. He's going to think he knows exactly what to do. He's going to follow the constructs of games he knows. And if he's super-geeky, he's going to think he knows where those games fail to address the "real world," and still think he knows exactly what to do. He's not going to be able to stop thinking about and talking about games he's played (this might be true in the real world too). Only once (and it wasn't the D&D world) did Ralph think, "if I was in a game, I'd press these buttons and get free." I honestly don't even understand the point of calling it a "Geek Fantasy Novel" if the geekiness was non-existent in the fantasy worlds (except that it markets the book to geeks).
So. Recommended for fans of meta-fiction, stories that forget what they're doing, and non-geeks looking for a minor step towards reading about geeky MCs
April 4, 2011
This was a very entertaining read. Yes, yet another intrusive narrator of sorts, but done in a very different way indeed. While I'm not a gamer I know enough about gaming to have seen at least some of the references here.
The story? Has something to do with poor geeky Ralph who, after being disappointed by not getting the gaming job he applied for (given that he is twelve-years-old it was in his dreams anyway), takes his British aunt up on an invitation to come to their castle to set up their internet network. From there it is all wishes, quests, fairies, enormous trees, an evil duchess, brave cousins, a trip to the underworld and just about everything else that could happen in a role-playing game.
Oh, the narrator? --- very meta and very fun.
The story? Has something to do with poor geeky Ralph who, after being disappointed by not getting the gaming job he applied for (given that he is twelve-years-old it was in his dreams anyway), takes his British aunt up on an invitation to come to their castle to set up their internet network. From there it is all wishes, quests, fairies, enormous trees, an evil duchess, brave cousins, a trip to the underworld and just about everything else that could happen in a role-playing game.
Oh, the narrator? --- very meta and very fun.
April 28, 2011
This book is not AT ALL what I expected. I thought it was going to be a cute little foray into geek culture, (with which I am very well-acquainted) a romp through a world full of comic book in-jokes and World of Warcraft references. While Geek Fantasy Novel has those, as well as fire-burping bunnies, the book is soooo much more than that--it's smart and meta and inventive and full of SAT words and freakin' layered--there are TWO narrators! Not that it's a hard book to read; it's definitely not that. It's just, well, to be completely honest, waaaay better than I thought it would be.
The main plot is that Ralph, a super geeky kid living in New Jersey whose parents are anti-wishing, is recruited by his aunt to come to England for the summer to help set up their WiFi network. While there, he reconnects with his cousins, Cecil and Daphne, and his step-cousin (is that a thing?) Beatrice. He also meets his other aunt, Chessie, who, as it turns out, has the power to grant wishes. However, these wishes have to be acted out via a quest that the wishee must complete.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, as is normally the case with magic, not everything is what it appears to be, and loopholes are abundant. With Ralph attempting to save each of his cousins from their careless wishing and terrifying quests, he wreaks havoc on the age-old profession of narrating quests and causes quite the stir in his family's otherwise quiet life.
I definitely recommend this one--it'll throw you for a loop in a couple different ways, and all the while keep you laughing. If you like fairy tales, geek stories, or books that have a very, very dry sense of humor, Geek Fantasy Novel is absolutely up your alley. And if you feel like you just want to read this book because you are a curious sort, that is an even better reason to read it!
The main plot is that Ralph, a super geeky kid living in New Jersey whose parents are anti-wishing, is recruited by his aunt to come to England for the summer to help set up their WiFi network. While there, he reconnects with his cousins, Cecil and Daphne, and his step-cousin (is that a thing?) Beatrice. He also meets his other aunt, Chessie, who, as it turns out, has the power to grant wishes. However, these wishes have to be acted out via a quest that the wishee must complete.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, as is normally the case with magic, not everything is what it appears to be, and loopholes are abundant. With Ralph attempting to save each of his cousins from their careless wishing and terrifying quests, he wreaks havoc on the age-old profession of narrating quests and causes quite the stir in his family's otherwise quiet life.
I definitely recommend this one--it'll throw you for a loop in a couple different ways, and all the while keep you laughing. If you like fairy tales, geek stories, or books that have a very, very dry sense of humor, Geek Fantasy Novel is absolutely up your alley. And if you feel like you just want to read this book because you are a curious sort, that is an even better reason to read it!
August 17, 2011
The premise of this was fantastic, but I don't think the author did enough with it. As a geek, I would have loved to see a real geeky response to fairy tales. Like: Ralph actually putting on a helmet like the one pictured and trying to figure out how to use binary code to solve one of the puzzles. Rather than doing lots of geeky things, he sort of complained and tagged along and didn't really seem to do anything. In that respect it was disappointing.
However, I love meta where the narrator gets to talk about narrating, and there was a good amount of that in the book, which made me happy.
However, I love meta where the narrator gets to talk about narrating, and there was a good amount of that in the book, which made me happy.
November 5, 2015
Via Black 'n Write Review
My final thoughts:
Ralph had a terribly boring upbringing. He had very few friends, does the pet rock collection count? And as such he dove into the world of computers and technology with his life goal of becoming a game designer for MonoMyth. After a series of a unfortunate events, Ralph receives a letter from his mother’s sister, Gert.
Aunt Gert, admittedly tells Ralph that one of her children randomly found him through an online web search and they found his blog, and realized how technologically efficient he was and invited him to the summer mansion to set up the wifi. All expenses paid vacation. Of course, a good geek will never be denied an adventure and off he went on the first ticket he can get his hands on.
After jet lag and excitement, Ralph is brought into a whole new world. The mansions’ grounds were vast and after he was settled into the guest house he set out to work on the wiring. Eventually Ralph and the Battersby kids’ world was thrown into a whirlwind when reintroduced to an aunt whom had been disowned by the parents, to the point that there was a spell cast upon the (three) children that they weren’t allowed to be within a certain reach of Aunt Chessie.
Ah-ha! You read it right, a spell. This entire family has the ability to grant wishes. Aunt Chessie is like the fairy-godmother who allows three wishes: Daphne, Cecil, and Beatrice. -Chessie lost her son to a wish-gone-wrong, and ever since the rest of the family had distanced themselves in fear that she may want to take revenge. – However, because of their situation it wasn’t something that could be granted. Thanks to Ralph and his teenage rebelliousness, he caste off the spell and caused a great disaster to befall the family.
Each spell is unique, and the wisher is sent on a quest where in the end they have learned something and are more “worldly”. It’s a strange mystique but interesting. Ralph hops the wishes of each of his cousins and becomes the hero. Although, he’s not the hero by choice. All these quests are employed, and written by a narrator.
We learn little of the narrator except that he enjoys intruding on the quest as well as starts losing his mind near the end of the book, which results in the whole story being taken to the “Royal Narratological Guild” and dealt with by Ralph’s one and only wish.
- Krys
My final thoughts:
Ralph had a terribly boring upbringing. He had very few friends, does the pet rock collection count? And as such he dove into the world of computers and technology with his life goal of becoming a game designer for MonoMyth. After a series of a unfortunate events, Ralph receives a letter from his mother’s sister, Gert.
Aunt Gert, admittedly tells Ralph that one of her children randomly found him through an online web search and they found his blog, and realized how technologically efficient he was and invited him to the summer mansion to set up the wifi. All expenses paid vacation. Of course, a good geek will never be denied an adventure and off he went on the first ticket he can get his hands on.
After jet lag and excitement, Ralph is brought into a whole new world. The mansions’ grounds were vast and after he was settled into the guest house he set out to work on the wiring. Eventually Ralph and the Battersby kids’ world was thrown into a whirlwind when reintroduced to an aunt whom had been disowned by the parents, to the point that there was a spell cast upon the (three) children that they weren’t allowed to be within a certain reach of Aunt Chessie.
Ah-ha! You read it right, a spell. This entire family has the ability to grant wishes. Aunt Chessie is like the fairy-godmother who allows three wishes: Daphne, Cecil, and Beatrice. -Chessie lost her son to a wish-gone-wrong, and ever since the rest of the family had distanced themselves in fear that she may want to take revenge. – However, because of their situation it wasn’t something that could be granted. Thanks to Ralph and his teenage rebelliousness, he caste off the spell and caused a great disaster to befall the family.
Each spell is unique, and the wisher is sent on a quest where in the end they have learned something and are more “worldly”. It’s a strange mystique but interesting. Ralph hops the wishes of each of his cousins and becomes the hero. Although, he’s not the hero by choice. All these quests are employed, and written by a narrator.
We learn little of the narrator except that he enjoys intruding on the quest as well as starts losing his mind near the end of the book, which results in the whole story being taken to the “Royal Narratological Guild” and dealt with by Ralph’s one and only wish.
- Krys
November 7, 2022
I loved this book!
Things I liked:
1. I have always wanted to go on an adventure, or be a part of a magical world. So reading a book that explores the idea of a literal geek going through wishes was extraordinary.
2. Every character was interesting, having people like Ralph who enjoyed science and then going as far as Daphne who still believes in Santa was great to read about.
3. I absolutely loved the Douglas Adams vibes.
There was nothing that I found truly wrong with this book. It was a great read, and the perfect mix of sci fi, adventure and comedy brings a smile to my face. This book was lovely.
Things I liked:
1. I have always wanted to go on an adventure, or be a part of a magical world. So reading a book that explores the idea of a literal geek going through wishes was extraordinary.
2. Every character was interesting, having people like Ralph who enjoyed science and then going as far as Daphne who still believes in Santa was great to read about.
3. I absolutely loved the Douglas Adams vibes.
There was nothing that I found truly wrong with this book. It was a great read, and the perfect mix of sci fi, adventure and comedy brings a smile to my face. This book was lovely.
June 13, 2014
Ralph is a geek, but not the type who would ordinarily dream of becoming the hero in a fantasy novel. In fact, Ralph's boring parents have done their best to instill in him a flat, unheroic, unimaginative character. Their reason is that it is dangerous for members of their family to make wishes. The closest thing to a wish that has ever crossed Ralph's mind is his dream of being a computer game designer. I know, right? What a geek! But then the fantasy novel happens to him.
It starts when the disreputable British side of Ralph's family invites him over to their castle. Even without his parents' permission, Ralph flies from New Jersey to England and almost immediately gets pulled into a perilous adventure involving wish-granting and storybook quests come to life. Each of Ralph's three cousins gets a forbidden wish from their dodgy Aunt Chessie, a notorious duchess with a flair for hawking exercise equipment. As each of the children goes on a fairy-tale-like quest, Ralph tags along in his geeky, buzzkill manner and tries to help them not get killed by the fulfillment of their wishes. But his efforts are adorably lame, and Chessie really throws herself role of villain in each story within the story, and even the narrator begins to lose his objectivity. Between Ralph's meddling and the narrator's increasing disregard of the Fourth Wall, a simple matter of three wishes, leading to three elegantly connected modern fairy tales, gets so messed up that it distorts the very nature of storytelling.
This book's title, and especially its cover art, hint at what a strong force a dork like Ralph may exert on a bedtime story's narrative flow. What they don't even begin to suggest is the loopiness that can come in when an invisible, third-person-omniscient narrator gets pulled into his own story. At one point there are two narrators vying with each other. As Ralph increasingly stymies the narrator's plans for his story, the stakes get higher and higher. Exploding bunnies, rampaging fairies, and angelic interventions escalate to a world-destroying disaster, gruesome death, a nasty afterlife, and even something beyond that. What could be weirder than the underworld? Don't ask me. Ask this book, whose narrator gives up and becomes a character before the end.
When magic, the rules of storytelling, and death itself collide with a cellphone-toting geek's determination to do heroism his own way, the outcome can only be more or less bizarre. This debut novel by a New York-based writer pokes daringly at the limits of bizarreness that a casual reader will tolerate. He seasons his experiment with lots of humor, often of the geek-deprecating (and thus, self-deprecating) persuasion. He lets his unlikely hero grow in a way that proves touching by the end. And he puts in plenty of snappy dialogue, such as this exchange between Ralph and the Grim Reaper:
It starts when the disreputable British side of Ralph's family invites him over to their castle. Even without his parents' permission, Ralph flies from New Jersey to England and almost immediately gets pulled into a perilous adventure involving wish-granting and storybook quests come to life. Each of Ralph's three cousins gets a forbidden wish from their dodgy Aunt Chessie, a notorious duchess with a flair for hawking exercise equipment. As each of the children goes on a fairy-tale-like quest, Ralph tags along in his geeky, buzzkill manner and tries to help them not get killed by the fulfillment of their wishes. But his efforts are adorably lame, and Chessie really throws herself role of villain in each story within the story, and even the narrator begins to lose his objectivity. Between Ralph's meddling and the narrator's increasing disregard of the Fourth Wall, a simple matter of three wishes, leading to three elegantly connected modern fairy tales, gets so messed up that it distorts the very nature of storytelling.
This book's title, and especially its cover art, hint at what a strong force a dork like Ralph may exert on a bedtime story's narrative flow. What they don't even begin to suggest is the loopiness that can come in when an invisible, third-person-omniscient narrator gets pulled into his own story. At one point there are two narrators vying with each other. As Ralph increasingly stymies the narrator's plans for his story, the stakes get higher and higher. Exploding bunnies, rampaging fairies, and angelic interventions escalate to a world-destroying disaster, gruesome death, a nasty afterlife, and even something beyond that. What could be weirder than the underworld? Don't ask me. Ask this book, whose narrator gives up and becomes a character before the end.
When magic, the rules of storytelling, and death itself collide with a cellphone-toting geek's determination to do heroism his own way, the outcome can only be more or less bizarre. This debut novel by a New York-based writer pokes daringly at the limits of bizarreness that a casual reader will tolerate. He seasons his experiment with lots of humor, often of the geek-deprecating (and thus, self-deprecating) persuasion. He lets his unlikely hero grow in a way that proves touching by the end. And he puts in plenty of snappy dialogue, such as this exchange between Ralph and the Grim Reaper:
"Are you aware that you are the last being alive in all the land?"
Ralph shook his head.
"You are. Are you willing to perform the duties required of you as said last being alive?"
Ralph shook his head.
"Are you willing to perform the duties required of you as said last being alive?"
Ralph shook his head.
"Are you willing to perform the duties required of you as said last being alive?"
Ralph nodded.
"Brilliant."
May 31, 2011
I confess: I am a geek by any common definition of the word.
Science major in college? Check
Played D&D? Check
Been to a Star Trek convention? Check
Own a color-coordinated set of 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice? Check
Able to quote entire scenes of Star Wars? Check
Have a home wi-fi network with five or more devices connected to it? Check
So when I saw the cover of GEEK: FANTASY NOVEL at the library, illustrated with a glasses-wearing geek in a battle helm, I picked up the book and flipped the pages. When I saw the list of possessions the protagonist packs for a trip (including 1 Petri Dish, 1 set of High Elf Figurines, 2 Laptops and 1 Novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), I had to get the book.
Ralph is an American teenage geek who dreams of designing video games. His parents love him, but for his entire life they have adamantly prohibited him from making wishes, even a simple wish while blowing out a birthday candle. They explain to him that many people on his family tree have died from making wishes, for example one who “wished for money and wound up with a coin-shaped tunnel through her body after a gold piece was shot at her from a cannon.”
Ralph is invited by the eccentric British branch of his family to spend the summer installing a computer network in their castle. He has fun with his cousins, Beatrice, Cecil and Daphne, and comes to understand that his parents’ prohibition on wishes is because of his Aunt Chessie, the Duchess of Cheshire, and her magic wish-granting ability.
Soon he is launched into the fantasy land of Cecil’s wish, a creepy place reminiscent of Niel Gaiman’s Faerie in Stardust, where Chessie and her minions try to kill him in various flamboyant ways. Ralph is infected by Shambling Mound Distemper, attacked by fairies, afflicted by pyrotechnically hyperallergenic cold-fused nuclear ragweed, and nearly stabbed by a unicorn-horn stiletto—all in his first two hours. Things deteriorate after that.
The writing is very entertaining, and the narrator is intriguingly unreliable.
Science major in college? Check
Played D&D? Check
Been to a Star Trek convention? Check
Own a color-coordinated set of 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice? Check
Able to quote entire scenes of Star Wars? Check
Have a home wi-fi network with five or more devices connected to it? Check
So when I saw the cover of GEEK: FANTASY NOVEL at the library, illustrated with a glasses-wearing geek in a battle helm, I picked up the book and flipped the pages. When I saw the list of possessions the protagonist packs for a trip (including 1 Petri Dish, 1 set of High Elf Figurines, 2 Laptops and 1 Novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), I had to get the book.
Ralph is an American teenage geek who dreams of designing video games. His parents love him, but for his entire life they have adamantly prohibited him from making wishes, even a simple wish while blowing out a birthday candle. They explain to him that many people on his family tree have died from making wishes, for example one who “wished for money and wound up with a coin-shaped tunnel through her body after a gold piece was shot at her from a cannon.”
Ralph is invited by the eccentric British branch of his family to spend the summer installing a computer network in their castle. He has fun with his cousins, Beatrice, Cecil and Daphne, and comes to understand that his parents’ prohibition on wishes is because of his Aunt Chessie, the Duchess of Cheshire, and her magic wish-granting ability.
Soon he is launched into the fantasy land of Cecil’s wish, a creepy place reminiscent of Niel Gaiman’s Faerie in Stardust, where Chessie and her minions try to kill him in various flamboyant ways. Ralph is infected by Shambling Mound Distemper, attacked by fairies, afflicted by pyrotechnically hyperallergenic cold-fused nuclear ragweed, and nearly stabbed by a unicorn-horn stiletto—all in his first two hours. Things deteriorate after that.
The writing is very entertaining, and the narrator is intriguingly unreliable.
September 18, 2014
The book "Geek" by E.Archer is not only entertaining, but unique as well. As a young reader, I have read a lot of fantasy books, but nothing like "Geek". The main character is a fourteen year old bot named Ralph. One summer, Ralph gets an email from his Aunt Gert saying that she would like him to come over to her castle in England and set up her Wi-Fi. At the castle he meets his cousins. Cecil is a sixteen- seventeen boy, and he doesn't like being rich. Beatrice is around Ralph's age, if not than a year older, she is very moody, and sad most of the time. Daphne, is a seven year old little girl. She adores Ralph.
As the book moves on, Ralph meets his other aunt, Chessie. Chessie and her two sister never really got along. She had a son but they don't know where he is. She tells Ralph that she will grant him a wish, if he can get her Ralph's three cousins. That's when the real actions begins.
E. Archer's "Geek", is a fun read. I enjoyed a lot. It's funny and highly amusing. For those who enjoy comedies and fantasy, this book is for you. I loved that it was at the point of view, from a fourteen year old boy. As an avid reader, I read a lot of books at girls points of views and it can get boring. It was a good change. All in all, "Geek" was very well written and I highly recommend it.
As the book moves on, Ralph meets his other aunt, Chessie. Chessie and her two sister never really got along. She had a son but they don't know where he is. She tells Ralph that she will grant him a wish, if he can get her Ralph's three cousins. That's when the real actions begins.
E. Archer's "Geek", is a fun read. I enjoyed a lot. It's funny and highly amusing. For those who enjoy comedies and fantasy, this book is for you. I loved that it was at the point of view, from a fourteen year old boy. As an avid reader, I read a lot of books at girls points of views and it can get boring. It was a good change. All in all, "Geek" was very well written and I highly recommend it.
September 13, 2011
Ralph has never been able to make a wish. Or, rather, he has never been allowed to make a wish. His parents strictly forbid it. And since they're pretty cool about everything else, Ralph never makes a wish. Then, one day, he receives a letter from his estranged aunt requesting that he come to Europe to set up their wi-fi network. Against his parent's wishes, he takes off for England and gets to work. And then another estranged aunt comes into the picture. One he's never even heard of; one that offers to grant him a wish after she grants the wishes of his cousins (none of whom had ever had the chance to make a wish either). In spite of his aunt and uncle attempting to prevent contact with her, wishes start getting granted and everything goes awry. Ralph finds himself caught in his cousins wishes, dies a few times and is introduced to members of the Narratological Guild as the book's own narrator struggles to keep the story under control.
It's a madcap ride and very, very silly. I haven't read anything quite like it. At times it feels a bit messy, but it's entertaining just the same. I particularly liked the ending which explained just where all the crazy narration issues come to a head.
It's a madcap ride and very, very silly. I haven't read anything quite like it. At times it feels a bit messy, but it's entertaining just the same. I particularly liked the ending which explained just where all the crazy narration issues come to a head.
December 20, 2011
If I could, I would give this a 1.5 stars. It doesn't deserve two, but I like to reserve a one star for books I absolutely loathe.
I admit this confused me. It was like Alice in Wonderland on a bad trip. Ralph is a computer geek who, after being bitterly disappointed when he is denied his dream job as a game designer (despite being a teenager and thus making it unlikely they would hire him), sets off to spend the summer with some relatives he’s never met in England without his parent’s permission. There he discovers why his parents do not allow him to make wishes; not even when he’s blowing out candles on a birthday cake. He also meets three cousins and ends up plunged into the middle of one of the cousin’s wishes. What follows is a strange, often nearly unfollowable account of a quest in a made-up land of faeries and a snow queen. The narration was jumbled and scenes shifted so quickly, I had trouble forcing my brain to follow. In the end, there wasn’t adequate resolution for me and character development had been forsaken for crazy plot shifts, so I didn’t even care.
I admit this confused me. It was like Alice in Wonderland on a bad trip. Ralph is a computer geek who, after being bitterly disappointed when he is denied his dream job as a game designer (despite being a teenager and thus making it unlikely they would hire him), sets off to spend the summer with some relatives he’s never met in England without his parent’s permission. There he discovers why his parents do not allow him to make wishes; not even when he’s blowing out candles on a birthday cake. He also meets three cousins and ends up plunged into the middle of one of the cousin’s wishes. What follows is a strange, often nearly unfollowable account of a quest in a made-up land of faeries and a snow queen. The narration was jumbled and scenes shifted so quickly, I had trouble forcing my brain to follow. In the end, there wasn’t adequate resolution for me and character development had been forsaken for crazy plot shifts, so I didn’t even care.
October 16, 2016
What can I say about this book? I so rarely give low star reviews.
Ralph has boring parents. Parents that want to humiliate him and stifle his creativity and will not let him wish for anything. So he runs-away to stay with his Aunt Gert and his three cousins in England. His parents do not call him, they do not come get him. Gert's kids are also not allowed to wish for anything. Their fairy Godmother takes offence to this rule. Ralph can have a wish of his own if only he will help her grant the other three.
Well, it was unpredictable if nothing else, and there's a twist at the end. Still not sure how I feel about it.
Weirdness ensued. But not Wonderland weird, more like Monty Python weird. That is exactly it. I do not think Monty Python is funny, and so I was not amused by this story. It was reminiscent of Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. This could've easily been titled: The Aimless Wanderer's Guide to Fairyland.
But the real reason I didn't like this book wasn't because of the dry British humor. I just didn't care about any of the characters. They were all Morons. Every single one of them. I loathed them all. If I met any of them in real life -- it would probably be at a Walmart.
Ralph has boring parents. Parents that want to humiliate him and stifle his creativity and will not let him wish for anything. So he runs-away to stay with his Aunt Gert and his three cousins in England. His parents do not call him, they do not come get him. Gert's kids are also not allowed to wish for anything. Their fairy Godmother takes offence to this rule. Ralph can have a wish of his own if only he will help her grant the other three.
Well, it was unpredictable if nothing else, and there's a twist at the end. Still not sure how I feel about it.
Weirdness ensued. But not Wonderland weird, more like Monty Python weird. That is exactly it. I do not think Monty Python is funny, and so I was not amused by this story. It was reminiscent of Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy. This could've easily been titled: The Aimless Wanderer's Guide to Fairyland.
But the real reason I didn't like this book wasn't because of the dry British humor. I just didn't care about any of the characters. They were all Morons. Every single one of them. I loathed them all. If I met any of them in real life -- it would probably be at a Walmart.
May 18, 2013
This book was TERRIBLE. From the cover art, you would think it had something to do with Greek mythology/fantasy. The art on the dust jacket is awesome, but extremely misleading.
Ralph gets a letter from a strange person he has never heard of or seen before claiming to be his relative asking him to go to Britain to help set up their Internet connection, so he, against his parent's will, flies to their estate. Then,a strange lady who allegedly killed her son comes, asking him to make a wish that she will make come true. Then, he gets trapped in a fantasy land where there are fairies and magic and rainbow gas that he can stand on. Throughout the book, two of his relatives die, and Ralph dies three times and comes back to life twice.
This book is hard to follow, and disappointing because the plot kept changing, in a choppy,bad way. I also did not like how the narrator became a character and found it distracting how he/she intervened and interfered with the plot.
Ralph gets a letter from a strange person he has never heard of or seen before claiming to be his relative asking him to go to Britain to help set up their Internet connection, so he, against his parent's will, flies to their estate. Then,a strange lady who allegedly killed her son comes, asking him to make a wish that she will make come true. Then, he gets trapped in a fantasy land where there are fairies and magic and rainbow gas that he can stand on. Throughout the book, two of his relatives die, and Ralph dies three times and comes back to life twice.
This book is hard to follow, and disappointing because the plot kept changing, in a choppy,bad way. I also did not like how the narrator became a character and found it distracting how he/she intervened and interfered with the plot.
May 17, 2011
This book was handed to me by Jill at SB Jr. as a means to tide me over until I could get my hands on the new Rick Riordan. I chuckle now that she has me pegged as a bit of a "geek" myself! As its title suggests, it is a geek fantasy novel. It is smart and funny in a way that I'm not sure young readers will pick up on, but if they do, hopefully they can stomach a book that pokes fun at all that is geeky and cool about the genre and its followers. Certainly the idea of multiple quests mixed up with every sort of character or "typical" fantasy genre scenario gone wrong creates a great deal of the interest and humor. The narrator's intrusion into the story is a quirky and smart twist that even I did not expect. Does that make me less geek-y?
May 19, 2011
Ralph has always known that you NEVER make a wish, they are dangerous. So far in life, he really hasn't had a reason to make a wish. That's all about to change. He is unexpectedly invited to visit his relatives who live in England, and he goes, without his parents permission. Once there he finds himself in the middle of his cousins wishes where his life is constantly in peril.
Reminiscent of the classic Edgar Eager book Half Magic, but for an older audience. Wish sequences are fun and action filled. The unseen narrator is humorous in his annoyance at Ralph's interference. Characters are totally wackadoodle and goofy. Unfortunately, Geek, flounders in it's lack of a clear focus, and it is never really clear what the book is about.
Reminiscent of the classic Edgar Eager book Half Magic, but for an older audience. Wish sequences are fun and action filled. The unseen narrator is humorous in his annoyance at Ralph's interference. Characters are totally wackadoodle and goofy. Unfortunately, Geek, flounders in it's lack of a clear focus, and it is never really clear what the book is about.
July 5, 2011
Recommended for gr. 6-9. Older geeky gamers might also enjoy it. Many elements will appeal to the geek/gamer - the protagonist, Ralph, certainly fits the description. Other elements will appeal to the twisted fairy tale lover, for example, the fairy godmother and wishes gone awry. And we can't forget the exploding bunnies! That said, I felt the story was disjointed. The different sections of the book didn't flow together very well. One of the previous reviews called it a crazy roller coaster ride, and that was about it (and not in a great way). The narrator broke into the story on several occasions, which was entertaining and the proceedings of the Royal Narratological Guild was an interesting touch.
October 14, 2014
The concept of the book was really good and the ending was really a shock. It's really hard to get into at first, which is why part one is called, "Boring but important." The book really picks up and the whole adventure is great. The main character Ralph was kind of easy to relate to being a geek myself, but sometimes I found myself not being on the same level as him.
The whole wish thing is cool too and it plays well with the whole "be careful what you wish for" thing because like I've seen before, you have to make a precise wish or everything just goes wrong.
I also love how the fourth wall is just destroyed. The narrator not only talks to the audience, but he even communicates with Ralph, which I've rarely seen in books.
Overall it's a fun read.
The whole wish thing is cool too and it plays well with the whole "be careful what you wish for" thing because like I've seen before, you have to make a precise wish or everything just goes wrong.
I also love how the fourth wall is just destroyed. The narrator not only talks to the audience, but he even communicates with Ralph, which I've rarely seen in books.
Overall it's a fun read.
December 15, 2014
Fourteen year old Ralph Stevens escapes his humdrum life when he's invited to spend the summer with his British cousins, ostensibly to set up their wireless network. What he discovers is a family given to eccentricity, from boisterous Cecil to solemn Beatrice and would be princess Daphne. Things get seriously weird when their infamous aunt fairy godmother Chessie of Cheshire turns up, ready to grant each child a wish. From that point on, it's pure chaos: Cecil's wish becomes a twisted satire of fairy tale quests and politics invoking the spirits of Terry Pratchett and Monty Python; Daphne's tears apart the classic fairy tale, "The Snow Queen;" and Beatrice's wish takes Ralph into the land of the dead
December 28, 2012
Pretty interesting with some really excellent humor - but a bit precious - or precocious? - at times as the narrator steps into the story to clean up the loose ends. The core premise is some kind of overblown video game that is real, where a modern noble family with magical roots gets tangled up by a decision to forbid wishes. As the tangle unravels reality, the reader follows some fairly absurd plot twists that mostly work - altho the end becomes a bit convoluted. This will appeal to some geeky readers, despite the slow start and uneven pace throughout. I couldn't stop reading it even as I was a little frustrated from time to time.
December 31, 2016
Geek Fantasy Novel wasn’t what I was expecting at all. And I still really don’t know how I feel about the story as a whole. I wanted so much to like the story but found at times that I really didn’t. There were times I tried so hard to feel attached to the characters and ultimately I didn’t have that full connection with the characters.
My favorite part of the novel in a whole was the one part where you could select what happened, and I wished the author would have had more of the choose your own in this novel. I believe that would have improved the novel and made reading it more enjoyable. It would have also made the reader feel as if they were part of the story and not just reading it.
My favorite part of the novel in a whole was the one part where you could select what happened, and I wished the author would have had more of the choose your own in this novel. I believe that would have improved the novel and made reading it more enjoyable. It would have also made the reader feel as if they were part of the story and not just reading it.
June 21, 2012
When I first opened this book, I was really afraid I wouldn't like it. The page numbers are all Roman numerals, the main character can be a dolt, and some of the characters were bratty. But as the story went on, it definitely got better. I love the idea of an intrusive narrator, and this one was up in the "catwalks" of the story and intruded with his own opinions while also twisting the story to torture the characters the way he saw fit. And the exploding bunnies. Oh, and the houses made of live fairies. So much fun.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 15, 2015
I can't do it. The writing is just so awful, I cannot go on. It has potential to be hilarious, but the writing just is so horrid I can't bring myself to finish. I really don't care about the characters, the narrator is an actual entity that interacts with the reader and that I do like, but the execution just ruined it. I think if it was handled better I'd have enjoyed it. Perhaps this should be targeted to younger readers and not young adults? I don't know, it just didn't do it for me at all and I can't bring myself to read and slug through the last hundred pages.
January 1, 2016
While E. Archer's book Geek was a little confusing, what with the narrator butting in most of the time, it all was cleared up in the end, and in the end was a very good, very funny, suspenseful book. But I also think it had a deeper meaning for writers, seasoned and novice; the narrator is in charge, and can do anything to the characters in the book, but it's not fun to write something if the characters have no free will and can't make decisions. Unless you're writing about robots. Then they don't have any free will.
April 13, 2011
A spoiler or two.
Over the top and very funny, I was really into Geek until three quarters of the way in (spoiler)just as Ralph enters the land of the dead. After that I felt the story lost some steam. However.....I will still promote this as I know some kids will really get into it. The evil (spoiler)fire belching/exploding bunnies were my fav part because really....who doesn't like a cute critter that becomes a lethal weapon?
Over the top and very funny, I was really into Geek until three quarters of the way in (spoiler)just as Ralph enters the land of the dead. After that I felt the story lost some steam. However.....I will still promote this as I know some kids will really get into it. The evil (spoiler)fire belching/exploding bunnies were my fav part because really....who doesn't like a cute critter that becomes a lethal weapon?
February 11, 2014
I feel like a book that promises exploding bunnies really has an obligation to deliver said bunnies in the first 50 pages. This book did not. The whole venture also got off to a slow start but I suspect that was to be expected since the first part of the novel is called "Boring (But Important)." This book is fun and has a lot going on to draw readers in and keep them engaged--just not this particular reader I guess.
June 5, 2011
Like most others I was drawn to the prospect of some geek humor, and ended up with something entirely different. I fell in love with the beautifully developing plot line and amazingly used nonsense, and was constantly laughing when the author killed off the character about 3 times. Overall I think this is an amazing book for anyone who is open to something different, others will probably find it annoying and confusing.
August 9, 2011
Eh. If I hadn't taken so long to read this I may have given it four stars. It is occasionally quite funny. While I don't usually mind a meddlesome narrator, it got a little out of hand in this book and completely lost the narrative structure at the end. It was intentional, but I kind of felt like it was a weak effort -- the only way the author could work his way out of the narrative hole he'd dug. Which is kind of ironic considering that's actually the whole plot.
December 30, 2011
I was excited about this book due to the idea that it was a totally geeky fantasy novel. What it ended up being was just plain weird. The plot was interesting enough...while it lasted. By the end the story has collapsed into randomness. The character's where difficult to identify with: they were shallow (which I guess is part of the point of the story) and hard to identify with. The narration was also wandering. There were whole paragraphs where I didn't know what was happening.
July 2, 2015
One of the funniest fantasies I have read in a long time. Ralph, a geek, is invited to England to help his aristocratic relatives set up the Wifi in their new manor estate. In the interim, he is whisked into the forbidden world of wishes. In his house, however, wish is a four letter word because of the things that have happened to members of his family. A delightfully fun story that even breaks down the fourth wall of literature.
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