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Joe Jefferson is an ordinary schoolboy from ordinary Earth. At least, he was. But something strange happened when he was walking his dog, and now he's Joe the Barbarian—fearless warrior-hero, summoned by Muddle Earth's leading wizard* to slay ogres, wrestle dragons, and bravely confront villains.

Joe doesn't feel much like a warrior-hero.** But evil is stirring in the heart of Elfwood, and the people of Muddle Earth need help (although most of them don't know it yet). Perhaps Joe Jefferson really is a hero after all. . . .

* Actually, Muddle Earth's only wizard. And he's not very good.
** He doesn't really look much like one either.

450 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

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About the author

Paul Stewart

217 books919 followers
Paul Stewart is a highly regarded author of books for young readers – from picture books to football stories, fantasy and horror. Together with Chris Riddell he is co-creator of the bestselling Edge Chronicles, which has sold more than three million copies and is available in over twenty languages. They have also collaborated together on lots of other exciting books for children of all ages. The Far-Flung Adventure series includes the Gold Smarties Prize Winner Fergus Crane, and Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, both Silver Nestle Prize Winners. Then there are the Barnaby Grimes books, two Muddle Earth adventures, and the sci-fi Scavenger and fantasy Wyrmeweald trilogies. For younger readers there is the Blobheads series, while for the very young, Paul has written several picture books, including the Rabbit and Hedgehog series, In the Dark of the Night and, his latest, Wings.

Other authors by this name disambiguation Note:
Paul Stewart - business and management books

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5 stars
691 (32%)
4 stars
746 (35%)
3 stars
516 (24%)
2 stars
120 (5%)
1 star
27 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
Profile Image for Richard.
Author 6 books474 followers
February 4, 2017
This novel is a silly romp through the tropes of fantasy. It takes many a humorous jab at The Lord of the Rings (Muddle Earth, the Musty Mountains, Mount Boom, Randalf the Wise, the talkative trees of Elfwood, and so on). But it also includes allusions to The Chronicles of Narnia, with perhaps a wink or two in the direction of Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland and even Monty Python and Xena, Warrior Princess. Randalf's constant reproofs to his smart-alecky familiar got a trifle tiresome after a while, as did the descriptions of the mostly revolting food. On the whole, however, it was light and amusing.
Profile Image for Keira.
321 reviews7 followers
May 12, 2021
This book is another one of my comfort books, I absolutely adore it! The characters are brilliant and really funny and story line- I just love it so much!
I’ve read this book before, so I knew the plot line already, but the ending is the biggest plot twist and I had completely forgotten so it was a very nice surprise! The ending is so clever, there is literally no way that you can see it coming.
The illustrations in this book, oh my lord: they are stunning, Chris Riddell is so talented and paired with Steward’s story it’s just amazing, these two are a match made in heaven, when it comes to these books!
36 reviews
June 11, 2010
This is literally and absolutely, the best book ever written by a human person or an animal. Anyone who dislikes it, is just weird. It has so many jokes, that you can burst laughing once every 10 lines. I just wish the book was longer (or that a second part comes out). I absulutelly recommend it to every person on the planet earth who can read, to read it.
Profile Image for Anne Patkau.
3,711 reviews68 followers
August 15, 2012
Muddle Earth
Intricately detailed portraits, and map preface table-less contents. Sweet snub-nosed Joe and scruffy-haired pet exude innocence. Three-eyed Norbert peers upside down beneath ginormous rump p166. Wide crazy blue eyes stare from eerie face-shadow in hooded Dr Cuddles body p148. Sharp twisted horny spined reptile Margot scarily spikes and smokes p149. "Spittle-tea" and "snot-bread" sound like a mud-pie tea party treat definitely for kiddies.
A tiny elf heads each chapter of ten in 3 Books of prime villains
1 Engelbert the Enormous 2 Here Be Dragons 3 Dr Cuddles of Giggle Glade.
Joe Jefferson schoolboy, frustrated by noisy family impeding Monday morning essay "My Amazing Adventure", walks his large floppy terrier-type dog Henry. But apprentice, self-promoted to wizard after others disappear, plump cowardly Randalf, despite warnings of familiar blue budgie Victoria, and cook ogre Norbert, uses his only (half) spell "Hero Summoning". From the houseboat on floating Enchanted Lake, through malodorous pink pig Perfumed Bog, over mangel-wurzel turnip-toll Trollbridge market of useless junk, Harmless Hill's killer daisies, three enemies need conquering before heading home. From the beginning, flying wardrobes p42 and stampeding cutlery p68 swarm from Elfwood, but starting there at #3 would end the story too soon. Diplomatic talking solves more than brawn.

Funds used up for first-summoned Quentin the Cake-Decorator, Randalf's pocket holds only "8 muckles, 5 groats, 1silver pipsqueak" p61, the exact price in the attic of Grubley's Discount Garment Store (fourth floor drawn above Unction's Upmarket Outfitter p53 sketch) to clothe "Joe the Barbarian" in fake-fur trimmed sacking cloak, , saucepan Helmet of Sarcasm, dustbin lid Shield of Slight Protection, and toasting fork p62 Trident of Trickery p63, wellies (text silver buckles not visible in drawings) of Power, wooly Gloves of Determination, cardigan of Optimism p59. How can one pipsqueak p75 be a fair price for the Horned Baron (persecuted by never-seen screeching wife Ingrid) to contract the first quest? Some minor characters, such as Fifi, have more influence on the plot than others, such as warrior-princess Brenda, whose "flame-red plaits and golden skin accentuating the curves of her .. powerful physique" fashionably accoutred down to the pink sabre-toothed battle-cat Sniffy bring to mind Friesner's "Chicks in Chainmail" series.
Series. http://www.goodreads.com/series/50584...
Samples. http://www.baenebooks.com/s-47-esther...
Homage to Tolkein "One teaspoon to rule them all .. the Lord of the Teaspoons" p433. Mount Boom softly explodes when the heroes first glimpse a small silver teaspoon twirling a "twinkling pirouette" p81, sigh forlornly lost alone, later bargained away, the only worthwhile item in Joe's pocket, as the Teaspoon of Terror for bridge toll p87. How does Randalf know Joe's bus ticket is "a chariot voucher from a far-off land" when he mis-labels a "lolly stick" (lollipop in New English) as "a miniature paddle" p88?

Suspense litters any Stewart-Riddell for a masterminded deep conspiracy.
Q: Who is "the nasal voice of Dr Cuddle's assistant" p146. A:
Q: Why is Englebert enraged, squeezing sheep into dumbell shapes? A: Q: And what is his missing treasure? A:

Randalf is "cranky, incompetent, miserly, pompous, vain, intolerably smug, moody, clumsy, lazy, greedy, and absolutely impossible to live with" p209 also selfish, obsequious, arrogant, deceitful, feeble, thoughtless, procrastinating, malingering, specious, unpleasant, bad. Maybe "all I've got" for Victoria, but unforgivable, deserves punishment at end. The difference between adult and younger audiences can be the lesson of forgiveness - children can grow mature; adults seldom alter.

Typos:
p348 "peeling bells" is "pealing"
Profile Image for Rachel.
1,454 reviews153 followers
October 20, 2016
4 stars is mostly for Veronica. She was hilarious! Love this author duo. Maybe my brain isnt working but i didnt get the ending? Ill have to re-read at some stage. Will definitely be reading the second book.
Profile Image for Harry W.
68 reviews
February 21, 2018
It's a hilarious book full of twists and turns you'd never expect. There are lots of characters to meet and read about. Any reader will have their face buried in it until they are done. An amazing read, Paul Stewart is definitely an Author to look up.
Profile Image for Malcolm Cox.
Author 1 book4 followers
October 11, 2017
This is a younger-readers parody on the world of Middle Earth found in J. R. R. Tolkein's The Lord Of The Rings. A somewhat unusual decision as many younger readers (or those being read to) will not know much of Middle Earth. However, where some of the places (Mount Boom) and characters (Randalf the Wise) are parodies of their Middle Earth counterparts, this story is very much its own thing with a completely different series of adventures told in three 'books'. Chris Riddell's wonderful illustrations are found throughout and really complement the pictures painted by the words.
Filled with Ogres, Elves, Pink Stinky Hogs and roaming cutlery, this imaginative and silly book entertained my son greatly when I read it to him. He was delighted to hear that there is a second book out there. Although it lacks the depth of more adult books, I too enjoyed rereading it.
Profile Image for Inita.
612 reviews38 followers
December 23, 2018
Grāmatu bibliotēkā izvēlējos Krisa Ridela zīmējumu dēļ. Taču arī pašam stāstam nebija ne vaina un ne par velti tā ir Jezgas zeme. Tajā mīt dažādi dzīvnieki, piemēram, ķekatpeles un smirdcūkas. Ir arī burvji, lai arī stāsta sākumā lielākā daļa no tiem ir pazuduši. Ir troļļi, elfi, Jezgas zemes kungs un pavēlnieks Ragainais barons un pūķi. Jezgas zemes problēmu risināšanai tiek atsaukts karotājvaronis Džo un viņa uzticamais karotājsuns Henrijs, kas nepavisam nav karotāji, taču lieliski tiek galā ar uzstādītajiem uzdevumiem. Beigas ir laimīgas un man ļoti patika autora risinājumi stāstam.
Author 1 book13 followers
January 8, 2012
Just as good as LOTR but funnier with cool pictures. My favourite part is the wardrobe attack and Veronica is hilarious!
Profile Image for Connie.
590 reviews65 followers
July 2, 2015
Really tried to be interesting and good, but used the same things over and over again and they became really boring.
Profile Image for Irene.
1,329 reviews129 followers
November 25, 2021
This wasn't great. Beyond the Deepwoods is one of my favourite middle-grade books, so I had high hopes for this one, but I found it pretty underwhelming. Above all, I'm not a fan of "an entire species of beings loves to do unpaid menial tasks for other people" because it has ✨Certain Implications✨ and "female character's entire personality consists of being an obnoxious and spoiled nagging wife". The fatphobic vibes also weren't great. This was published in 2003 and I don't think it has aged well.

The plot felt very flimsy. The Lord of the Rings parallels are references were cute, but I think the world-building relied entirely on the reader having read The Hobbit and LOTR, which I guess you can reasonably expect from an adult that will pick this book up, but not from a 10-year-old who's the target audience. The world in The Edge Chronicles is rich, vibrant and full of fascinating creatures and characters, so this one felt incredibly lacklustre in comparison.

Past the first adventure's resolution, it was boring. Nothing much happens until the end of the quest. Sadly, the best part of the book were Riddell's fantastic illustrations, which were wasted on this one.
Profile Image for Heather W.
913 reviews12 followers
January 27, 2020
4.5 rounded up to five. This is a funny read that I really appreciated. The story itself is fairly straightforward and simplistic, but the humour and drawings were the highlights of this novel. I enjoyed reading it and I will be trying more by this author. Would recommend if you need a nice, easy read and are reasonably familiar with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Profile Image for Beth .
183 reviews
February 7, 2023
Reread this book for some nostalgia, Ioved reading it as a kid. Funnily enough, I originally read it before even knowing anything about lord of the rings so I had absolutely no idea that it was a spoof of it lmao. I enjoyed reading it again, it's hardly intellectual literature but sometimes you just need to read something simple :)
Profile Image for Anne Rose.
240 reviews1 follower
July 14, 2018
One of my kids favourite books. Best read out loud to them. 😀
Profile Image for Karl Orbell.
237 reviews41 followers
May 1, 2013
Yet another novel from the mighty duo of Stewart and Riddell. I have read almost all of their work, which is substantial and excellent, before this book, so they had a hard act to follow with a parody format.

Muddle Earth is very popular, it has been converted in to an animated series and received more traction than some of the authors' other work. It is supposedly a parody of Lord of the Rings, though having read it, I can see precious few references to that series, one or two little bits shoe-horned in perhaps. Other than the fact it is a fantasy novel, with wizards and elves, talking trees perhaps and other odd creatures, I really do not think it has much to do with it. It is however a fair parody and comic version of the usual swords and sorcery format. There is a wizard, Randalf the Wise, though he might want to rethink "the Wise" as a post-nominal. There is a warrior-hero, Joe the Barbarian who even comes complete with a battle hound, Henry. Though as he was pulled from our world whilst he was walking his dog thinking of what to write for an essay for school, he is fairly unconvinced with "the Barbarian" being added to his name too. There is even a dark lord, the terrifyingly named, Dr Cuddles. The lord of the land, The Horned Baron, reminds me a lot of Darth Helmet, and he has an incarnation of hell for a wife, Ingrid. She does not appear to have a post-nominal, or pseudonym, though she makes Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet) seem like a happy-go-lucky hippie.

The story is enjoyable enough, the humour is pretty simple, but the plot moves along nicely through three separate books within the volume. The creatures are just sufficiently different from the usual fantasy fare to catch the imagination and some of the characters are very well drawn. I particularly liked the long suffering Horned Baron, desperate for a quieter life. Also, the ogres who are turned on their heads as huge softies who are particularly fond of their snuggly-wugglies.

The target age is probably around 7-11, junior school, though any age would find something to enjoy here. Though adults coming to it might want to forget the notion that it is a parody and not expect too much from the comedy before starting and they will be happy. Not my favourite work by these authors by any means, it is certainly not on a par with The Edge Chronicles or Wyrmeweald, but still very good.
Profile Image for Noah D'Aliesio.
19 reviews
September 13, 2015
The book that I am doing for my review is Muddle Earth by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. The genre of the book is fantasy, because it includes magic. The setting for this book takes place in many different places. Some of the places are The Enchanted Lake, The Horned Baron's Castle, Goblintown, The Musty Mountains, Elfwood, Giggle Glade, Trollbridge, and Ogre Hills. All of those places are in Muddle Earth. The main characters are Joe Jefferson, Henry joe's dog, Randalf the wise, Nobert the not-very-big, Veronica the budgie, The Horned Baron, and Dr. Cuddles. I think that the story of this book is in the present, because when it talks about Joe Jefferson, he lives in a normal house with parents and sibling. The description for this book is that Joe takes his dog on a walk, and his dog pulls him into a bush. They stumble down a tunnel and land in Randalf's houseboat, in Muddle Earth. Randalf makes Joe a warrior hero, and he battles dragons, elfs, and ogres. I rated Muddle Earth five out of five stars because it was a great book. It had many of different creatures that I haven't heard of, and it had magnificent vocabulary.
Profile Image for Rachel E. Meyer.
1,055 reviews
November 20, 2017
One teaspoon to rule them all, one teaspoon to heed them, one teaspoon to bring them all to Giggle Glade and lead them!

This whole book was just a big fun adventure with very loose influences of the Lord of the Rings. Only with Muddle Earth, the Musty Mountains, and Mount Boom.

There are three books in this one, and they go together nicely. Each adventure is easy to read and not hard to get through. The plot may be silly, but that's the whole point of this book. Poking a bit of fun at fantasy.

The blurb says the protagonist is Joe, but there are a lot of other important characters as well. And despite the amount of them, you still feel like you know them all well. I think I liked Veronica best after Joe. And the dragon. She was fun.

The world, like I said, is loosely based off Middle Earth, but not that closely. It's silly and weird like their Edge Chronicles. If I had to pick one, the Edge Chronicles were better, but this one was funnier. It doesn't take itself seriously at all. I mean, what sort of villain is Doctor Cuddles of Giggle Glade?

A great book if you want a bit of a laugh and a lighthearted adventure. Also fun for Lord of the Rings fans.
Profile Image for John Milne.
31 reviews
April 21, 2019
*three and a half stars.

This is a book that I used to read and re-read over and over again as a kid, and when I found a near pristine hardback edition in a local charity shop I had to buy it. I couldn't wait to read it however I was a little wary that I wouldn't like it as much due to being much older now.

It took me absolutely ages to get through this, and I'm not quite sure why, but a month was a long time even for me. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, because I did. The original spin on Lord of the Rings produces clever moments of comedy and wit on an adventure that you would love to have yourself, in a richly detailed and populated other world. As a child, I found myself wanting to join the characters on their journey so badly, and even today, 10 or so years later, I still got that feeling.

The only thing that kept me from giving it a high rating is that the writing was kinda average. Otherwise I absolutely loved it.
Profile Image for Beth Bonini.
1,414 reviews326 followers
January 25, 2012
Another 3 1/2.

Full stars for being a terrifically funny parody of The Lord of the Rings and all of the classic "high" fantasy tropes. And I did love Riddell's distinctive illustrations, which are embedded in the text and TRULY add to the pleasure of the story. One favourite that comes to mind is the picture of the Grubley's discount store where Randalf (the incompetent wizard), Veronica (his sarcastic budgie) and Norbert the-not-so-very-big Ogre go to buy a "warrior-hero" costume for Joe.

But I did tire of its particular kind of humour. I know that 9-12 year old boys find bad smells to be endlessly funny, but it's a gag that I weary of after a few hundred pages. Still, I would thoroughly recommend it to the age group that it was written for; and indeed, when I talked about it in my Book Club for 10/11 year old boys they seemed really keen.
Profile Image for Lisa.
798 reviews
January 24, 2018
This took a bit to get into but it was worthwhile. Very silly children's book that basically makes fun of the Lord of the Rings and other fantasy tropes. Unless the kids have read LOTR though, they won't get the jokes, but they will I'm sure appreciate all the farting and exploding that goes on. Plus I swear there was a Flanders & Swann reference in here (a brilliant British comedic duo from the 1960s), or maybe I'm projecting, but I really want to believe that that's what it was. My only problem was the women in these books are not great characters, but then there really weren't any in LOTR at all, so there's that.
Profile Image for Mladoria.
1,167 reviews18 followers
June 1, 2019
Deuxième tome de ces chroniques déjantées où l'on continue de suivre le jeune Jean-Mi. Cette fois-ci après une convocation du Baron et de sa délicieuse épouse, Randalf se trouve empaqueté à dos de dragon. Et l'on en apprend un peu plus sur les odieux plans du mystérieux docteur Câlinou !!
Entre les sorties de Veronica la perruche et le caractère affable de Norbert, on sourit beaucoup à toutes ces sorties, c'est loufoque à souhait et très agréable à lire.
Un chouette moment de lecture détente et d'aventure sans prise de tête, je lirai la suite pour me marrer et savoir notre petit Barbare réussira un jour à rentrer au bercail.
Profile Image for Floriane.
56 reviews8 followers
March 9, 2016
Les Chroniques du Marais qui pue, c'est comme Les Chroniques du Bout du Monde mais pour les plus jeunes, en plus simple et plus court. Mêmes auteurs, même édition, même humour et personnages attachants. La quête fantasy par excellence dans un monde drôle et adapté aux plus jeunes. M'est avis que les petits adoreront les histoires de grenouilles péteuses, d'ogres et de montagnes moisies. :D
Donc super pour les enfants, mais trop simpliste pour y prendre un vrai plaisir de lecteur pour les grands.
Profile Image for Nanny.
12 reviews
July 28, 2017
Das hier wird eine sehr kurze Rezension, da es Jahre her ist, dass ich das Buch zuletzt gelesen habe. Ich war damals in der 7. Klasse und habe mich köstlich amüsiert und es ist mir bis heute in sehr guter Erinnerung geblieben.
Würde ich es wieder lesen?
Auf jeden Fall. Allein schon um zu sehen, ob ich es heute als (mehr oder minder) Erwachsene immer noch so lustig finden würde. Vielleicht sogar noch lustiger, da ich mittlerweile mehr von den parodierten Geschichten und stereotypischen Fantasy-Elementen gelesen habe.
Profile Image for Rose G.
30 reviews3 followers
September 11, 2018
I recommend this book to people who enjoy very realistic humour that is in our everyday lives, except in this book they give examples of realistic humour in a fantasy land called Muddle Earth. In this book, the only wizard left in Muddle Earth and his companions Veronica the sarcastic bird and Norbert the small troll summon a warrior hero, an ordinary schoolboy named Joe who runs after his dog and into a rabbit hole where he finds Muddle Earth. Together they have to stop an angry ogre from stomping on houses and squeezing sheep.
Profile Image for Beverly.
5,955 reviews4 followers
October 4, 2018
Sort of a parody of "Lord of the Rings" but for children, with a silver teaspoon substituting for the "one ring to rule them all." The ogres are big cry babies, the trolls demand fruit in payment for crossing the bridge, the Horned Baron is scared of his wife, and the warrior hero is a 10-year-old boy named Joe.
10 reviews
November 29, 2017
Having never read The Lord Of The Rings (which this is obviously poking fun at) I can only say this book is amazing! From the kooky characters to the funky places, it is a story for the ages. The scrawny and scraggly boy who becomes a hero is a tale told before with many a new twist.
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