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Legendarium
In every generation, certain writers are chosen to be protectors of The Legendarium, a metaphysical library that exists at the nexus of the multiverse. Inside this library are doorways that lead to every world ever created in literature. There are forces of evil constantly at work to destroy the library and send the world back into an age of darkness. Now, in a time of growing illiteracy, two heroes are chosen to defend The Legendarium. Bombo Dawson, newly published author and the hero of Michael Bunker's novella Hugh Howey Must Die!, and Alistair Foley, aspiring author and Bombo's harshest critic, become unlikely partners in a mission to protect The Legendarium. Their adventures will take them across the worlds of literature, but will hostile enemies learn to work together before the accumulated knowledge of all of humanity is lost forever?
101 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2014
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276 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
April 20, 2015
Okay , so this gets my vote for corniest novel for 2014! The concept is a fascinating one: all novels meet at a central point known as the Legendarium, no matter what time frame the novel happens or where it happens, be it in outer space, under the sea or in a vast desert. In this, the second novel starring Bombo Dawson, hero of Hugh Howey Must Die, a vast evil is destroying the great novels of American literature. It's up to Bombo and his sidekick Alistair to figure out how to stop the destruction, along with Kurt Vonnegut, Leo Tolstoy, Thornton Wilder, and cameos from several other authors and literary figures.
The writing was good, and the hidden gems were really the highlight of the story: quotes taken from great (and not-so-great) books and used in the dialogue throughout. One was even used as a chapter title, and that made me laugh out loud! The narration by Robert Rossman was very good, and his voice was perfect for the grandiose scenes from these great novels.
In the afterword, Michael Bunker mentioned that he'd be willing to work with anyone on Bombo Dawson novels. Just the concept of the Legendarium alone gives me several ideas that I might even run by him. I'm no writer, but several storylines have popped into my head in just the few minutes since I finished the book.
Recommended for anyone that loves a good farce, anyone that loves classical literature, and anyone that can laugh at how high-brow and uppity we can get with our favorite (and most-hated) books!
The writing was good, and the hidden gems were really the highlight of the story: quotes taken from great (and not-so-great) books and used in the dialogue throughout. One was even used as a chapter title, and that made me laugh out loud! The narration by Robert Rossman was very good, and his voice was perfect for the grandiose scenes from these great novels.
In the afterword, Michael Bunker mentioned that he'd be willing to work with anyone on Bombo Dawson novels. Just the concept of the Legendarium alone gives me several ideas that I might even run by him. I'm no writer, but several storylines have popped into my head in just the few minutes since I finished the book.
Recommended for anyone that loves a good farce, anyone that loves classical literature, and anyone that can laugh at how high-brow and uppity we can get with our favorite (and most-hated) books!
October 16, 2016
I Don't Want to Pull a Foley, But...
This story disappointed me. It was based on a brilliant idea, providing Bunker & Summers a perfect opportunity to do something great! The product blurb sounded so promising, but the book only lived up to it for brief, scattered moments (I genuinely enjoyed the Hemingway and Melville scenes); otherwise, it fell short. The biggest problem with Legendarium is that it starts with a few great laughs, and quickly begins to repeat its own jokes - but not the funniest ones. Cheesy dialogue was the necessary result. I truly believe that, had the authors not tried so hard to be funny, this could have been a fantastic novel!
So why two stars instead of one? The message these authors tried to convey was great: indie and self-published are not synonymous with crap! Plus, Bunker & Summers deserve some credit for coming up with a great idea and delivering a few solid laughs.
This story disappointed me. It was based on a brilliant idea, providing Bunker & Summers a perfect opportunity to do something great! The product blurb sounded so promising, but the book only lived up to it for brief, scattered moments (I genuinely enjoyed the Hemingway and Melville scenes); otherwise, it fell short. The biggest problem with Legendarium is that it starts with a few great laughs, and quickly begins to repeat its own jokes - but not the funniest ones. Cheesy dialogue was the necessary result. I truly believe that, had the authors not tried so hard to be funny, this could have been a fantastic novel!
So why two stars instead of one? The message these authors tried to convey was great: indie and self-published are not synonymous with crap! Plus, Bunker & Summers deserve some credit for coming up with a great idea and delivering a few solid laughs.
June 15, 2015
This short story is awesome silliness! Kevin G. Summers and Michael Bunker collaborate magically here to bring another adventure in the life of Bombo Dawson. It is a mix-mash-re-tell of some of America's favorite super stories. There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor and pure silliness that you will definitely not enjoy if you truly are a literary snob. However, if you have a sense of humor, an imagination and a sense of adventure, it is a tale for you. Go ahead and open the door....
August 28, 2016
Oh…kay.
First off, I sincerely hope the authors are (or, you know, were) VERY good friends with "NYTbestsellingauthorHughHowey". Actually, I would harbor a strong suspicion that one (or both) of the authors IS Hugh Howey … except … I loved Wool. I didn't love this.
See, there is a rather large difference between "trying to be funny" and "being funny". This I realized in spades while listening to Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer, which, while not constructed as a comic novel, made me laugh out loud quite often, seemingly without even trying. Legendarium tried very, very hard – so hard – but … I did more cringing than anything.
Why use Hugh Howey's name and then change "Wool" to "Cotton"? What's the point? Is that supposed to be funny?
The writing was awkward, with the same word sometimes awkwardly being used in the same sentence. (See what I did there?) The plot made me think of nothing so much as a handful of spaghetti. It's an unoriginal idea done badly. The tone was juvenile. Not the content or the story – I don't mean that this was a book suitable for or meant for children, not if any parents have any sense. No, I mean that the authors' mindset seemed to be that of 13-year-old boys. I found it shocking that there were no details about toilet functions in the lifepod.
Worst of all, though, is the fact that the two main characters are complete and utter idiots. I have a hard time enjoying a book – like Wuthering Heights – in which there isn't a character I can like. I'm even less likely to enjoy a book in which I'm expected to spend time with idiots; I don't have much patience for fools in any setting, fictional or nonfictional. But – ok, the two "heroes" are completely annoying morons, and they utterly failed in their first mission. But here's the thing: how could they possibly not fail? How is it possible to successfully complete a mission when not only do you not know what the parameters of said mission are, but you don't even know there IS a mission? In plain spoilerese, they had no way of knowing they ought to snatch up some borogroves – and, moreover, had no way of knowing what the damn things were. So. Yeah. They failed. Yeah, they were idiots not to say "Hm – sword on a spaceship. Let's grab it, just in case ", but there's no contesting the fact that they're idiots.
If I never hear the word "doughnut" again, I'll be just as happy.
First off, I sincerely hope the authors are (or, you know, were) VERY good friends with "NYTbestsellingauthorHughHowey". Actually, I would harbor a strong suspicion that one (or both) of the authors IS Hugh Howey … except … I loved Wool. I didn't love this.
See, there is a rather large difference between "trying to be funny" and "being funny". This I realized in spades while listening to Ben Aaronovitch's Foxglove Summer, which, while not constructed as a comic novel, made me laugh out loud quite often, seemingly without even trying. Legendarium tried very, very hard – so hard – but … I did more cringing than anything.
Why use Hugh Howey's name and then change "Wool" to "Cotton"? What's the point? Is that supposed to be funny?
The writing was awkward, with the same word sometimes awkwardly being used in the same sentence. (See what I did there?) The plot made me think of nothing so much as a handful of spaghetti. It's an unoriginal idea done badly. The tone was juvenile. Not the content or the story – I don't mean that this was a book suitable for or meant for children, not if any parents have any sense. No, I mean that the authors' mindset seemed to be that of 13-year-old boys. I found it shocking that there were no details about toilet functions in the lifepod.
Worst of all, though, is the fact that the two main characters are complete and utter idiots. I have a hard time enjoying a book – like Wuthering Heights – in which there isn't a character I can like. I'm even less likely to enjoy a book in which I'm expected to spend time with idiots; I don't have much patience for fools in any setting, fictional or nonfictional. But – ok, the two "heroes" are completely annoying morons, and they utterly failed in their first mission. But here's the thing: how could they possibly not fail? How is it possible to successfully complete a mission when not only do you not know what the parameters of said mission are, but you don't even know there IS a mission? In plain spoilerese, they had no way of knowing they ought to snatch up some borogroves – and, moreover, had no way of knowing what the damn things were. So. Yeah. They failed. Yeah, they were idiots not to say "Hm – sword on a spaceship. Let's grab it, just in case ", but there's no contesting the fact that they're idiots.
If I never hear the word "doughnut" again, I'll be just as happy.
December 24, 2014
By combining magical realism, science fiction, and satire into one tome, Kevin Summers and Michael Bunker have delivered a powerful vehicle for metaphor and interpretation. The Legendarium is `a metaphysical library that exists at the nexus of the multiverse, at the point where all stories intersect.' That means that every story ever conceived or that will be conceived, resides there, and if by chance a story is altered or removed, the timeline in all dimensions is in turn altered. And who do we have to preserve the Legendarium? None other than the imperfect creative writing teacher Alistair Foley, and the bumbling Bombo Dawson.
Not all is subtle in the Legendarium. The work is rife with blatant questions of aesthetics; What makes a work of writing literature? Does a traditionally published work out weigh an indie published story? Questions expected from two of Indie publishing's best selling authors. Yet these questions are a bait to readers, to mask a greater message, and that is that stories, regardless of label, connect with readers, and without that connection, the reader is the lesser, and in turn the world lesser too. As Bombo and Alistair stumble through the literary works of the Legendarium, we are given a view of a world that could have been. A moral lesson into why no story, indie or otherwise, should be swept under the rug. I give this story five stars, not because this is a great follow up in the Bombo Dawson franchise, (it is), and not because of the long list of literary name drops, (which it has), and not because of the impeccable language (because it has not). I give this story five stars because, through the eyes of two fools and a gentle poke at our literary heroes, we are reminded that throughout history stories have influenced the world, and touched us as well.
Not all is subtle in the Legendarium. The work is rife with blatant questions of aesthetics; What makes a work of writing literature? Does a traditionally published work out weigh an indie published story? Questions expected from two of Indie publishing's best selling authors. Yet these questions are a bait to readers, to mask a greater message, and that is that stories, regardless of label, connect with readers, and without that connection, the reader is the lesser, and in turn the world lesser too. As Bombo and Alistair stumble through the literary works of the Legendarium, we are given a view of a world that could have been. A moral lesson into why no story, indie or otherwise, should be swept under the rug. I give this story five stars, not because this is a great follow up in the Bombo Dawson franchise, (it is), and not because of the long list of literary name drops, (which it has), and not because of the impeccable language (because it has not). I give this story five stars because, through the eyes of two fools and a gentle poke at our literary heroes, we are reminded that throughout history stories have influenced the world, and touched us as well.
June 6, 2014
This is honestly the most fun I've had reading a book in a very long time. Mr Bubker and Mr Summers have collaborated on a true gem!
Bombo and Alistair are perfect literary foils as there back and forth is for the ages. There are several laugh out loud moments in this book! On the other side this book is filled with a heartfelt premise and a realization that actions have consequences...in life and literature.
This book may possibly go down as the most quoteable ever to me. ive pulled more quotes from Robert B Parker's "Spenser" series than I can ever recall, but this book has 2 or 3 I will never forget. ".......fantasy sucks and so does space opera." I totally disagree with that statement but that particular exchange between Bombo and Alistair was absolutely hysterical and one of the many reasons I loved this book.
In the end Michael and Kevin have a deep, rich, and heartfelt respect for the written word. it is purely evident these love the authors as much as their words. You simply cant read this book and not recognize that. I (am just me but) highly recommend this book. I think will not only love it but you will be driven to thank them both for writing it.
THE END
Bombo and Alistair are perfect literary foils as there back and forth is for the ages. There are several laugh out loud moments in this book! On the other side this book is filled with a heartfelt premise and a realization that actions have consequences...in life and literature.
This book may possibly go down as the most quoteable ever to me. ive pulled more quotes from Robert B Parker's "Spenser" series than I can ever recall, but this book has 2 or 3 I will never forget. ".......fantasy sucks and so does space opera." I totally disagree with that statement but that particular exchange between Bombo and Alistair was absolutely hysterical and one of the many reasons I loved this book.
In the end Michael and Kevin have a deep, rich, and heartfelt respect for the written word. it is purely evident these love the authors as much as their words. You simply cant read this book and not recognize that. I (am just me but) highly recommend this book. I think will not only love it but you will be driven to thank them both for writing it.
THE END
December 3, 2014
The style of this book reminded me of Robert A. Heinlein, but with less quality of writing and less deeper thoughts. As with Heinlein's stories, there is a quirky humor and since of general fun adventure, but again as with Heinlein, eventually the characters begin to drag the story down. I thought the concept of this book was interesting and I love the idea of it, but I thought it was poorly executed. I wouldn't say this book is horrid or anything, just not what I like in a science fiction story.
March 14, 2016
3.5 stars!!
I truly wanted to love this book. Everything about it fit in with my normal likes. It included zombies (for a few moments), Time travel, literary references and donuts. So what's not to love???
Something was missing for me I don't know what it is. But I would most definitely read both of the authors again.
I truly wanted to love this book. Everything about it fit in with my normal likes. It included zombies (for a few moments), Time travel, literary references and donuts. So what's not to love???
Something was missing for me I don't know what it is. But I would most definitely read both of the authors again.
January 24, 2015
I'm a sucker for books about authors and books about books. So this was a natural fit. The ghosts of Wilder, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Vonnegut..they are all here. So is Hemingway's first novel...for a while.
Bombo is an author enjoying some first success...his only one-star review comes from creative-writing teacher Alistair, a frustrated author with stacks of rejection letters.
They are recruited by the ghosts of their favorite authors to save the world...by entering the Legendiarium, a" metaphysical library that exists at the nexus of the multiverse." These two enemies are charged with saving the world by saving books...they lose Hemingway's first one, which was then left on that train by Hadley. They lose a classic sci-fi that inspired MLK, who, in a parallel universe became president.
They bicker and poke at each other on their quest for the Vorpal Sword to kill the Jabberwock in Lewis Carroll's THRU THE LOOKING GLASS...and the sword travels thru the multiverse, and in and out of stories.
I'm with Bombo when he admits he doesn't much like fantasy, but I love this. I love the smart dialogue and the smart commentary about authors and books. I love the idea of books literally changing the world.
I listened to this book on audible...didn't much like the narration. Sometimes it sounded like the actor was speaking a second language. But, as I drove in my car and took my walks around the neighborhood, I found myself guffawing OUT LOUD! Then looking around to see if anyone had caught me. I doubt they would have gotten the jokes.
I loved how Bombo and Alistair learned from each other...and I hope for more adventures.
Bombo is an author enjoying some first success...his only one-star review comes from creative-writing teacher Alistair, a frustrated author with stacks of rejection letters.
They are recruited by the ghosts of their favorite authors to save the world...by entering the Legendiarium, a" metaphysical library that exists at the nexus of the multiverse." These two enemies are charged with saving the world by saving books...they lose Hemingway's first one, which was then left on that train by Hadley. They lose a classic sci-fi that inspired MLK, who, in a parallel universe became president.
They bicker and poke at each other on their quest for the Vorpal Sword to kill the Jabberwock in Lewis Carroll's THRU THE LOOKING GLASS...and the sword travels thru the multiverse, and in and out of stories.
I'm with Bombo when he admits he doesn't much like fantasy, but I love this. I love the smart dialogue and the smart commentary about authors and books. I love the idea of books literally changing the world.
I listened to this book on audible...didn't much like the narration. Sometimes it sounded like the actor was speaking a second language. But, as I drove in my car and took my walks around the neighborhood, I found myself guffawing OUT LOUD! Then looking around to see if anyone had caught me. I doubt they would have gotten the jokes.
I loved how Bombo and Alistair learned from each other...and I hope for more adventures.
January 22, 2015
I wanted to like this. It tackles a cool concept, but it does so without any style or wit. Not to be Foley, but I have so many problems with it. The only character I liked was Hugh Howie, who is clearly just a link to the one of the author's previous works. The two main characters are dull, flat, and entirely annoying. I hear that people like the other Bombo books, but I just don't get it at all. They repeat the same lines over and over, rehashing the same tired plot points. The story doesn't even make sense! I love sci-fi, but I could not suspend my disbelief for even a second in this story. Anytime a character would bring up something the audience might be thinking, another character would basically say, "We don't have time to explain!" That's bad writing, plain and simple.
For those of you listening to the audio version, don't. I have honestly never heard a worse narrator in my life. I listen to about 12 hours of audiobooks a week, so I've listened to a lot. This guy was horrible. He was clearly trying to distinguish between voices, but he slipped between them all with no relationship to which character was speaking! Even the different accents he chose didn't make sense for the characters he was supposedly trying to perform. Lines that might have been funny fell flat, and I actually lost track of who was speaking at times. Seriously, this guy needs more training before ever picking up a mic again.
AVOID.
For those of you listening to the audio version, don't. I have honestly never heard a worse narrator in my life. I listen to about 12 hours of audiobooks a week, so I've listened to a lot. This guy was horrible. He was clearly trying to distinguish between voices, but he slipped between them all with no relationship to which character was speaking! Even the different accents he chose didn't make sense for the characters he was supposedly trying to perform. Lines that might have been funny fell flat, and I actually lost track of who was speaking at times. Seriously, this guy needs more training before ever picking up a mic again.
AVOID.
March 21, 2014
Bombo is back and funnier than ever!
Ever since I read Michael Bunker's "Hugh Howey Must Die", I've been itching for more Bombo Dawson. This story doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Adding Alistair Foley to the mix is quite simply brilliant. The duo fit well together because they truly dislike one another, but find themselves working side-by-side to fix the Legendarium (a library unlike any other) before worlds collide and fall apart. However, they must first learn to work together and that's a tall order. Mainly, because Alistair thinks Bombo is a piss-poor writer and doesn't hesitate to leave a scathing review of Bombo's seminal work right before they're thrown together to save every world ever created through the written word, and in turn, our own.
You'll find a little bit of everything in Legendarium. For instance, if you enjoy fantastic writing, laughing out loud while you read and such things as libraries, books, adventures, bungling heroes who finally get it right after a whole lot of wrong, snappy dialogue, and characters whose flaws are all too believable and thus, endearing, this book is for you!
Ever since I read Michael Bunker's "Hugh Howey Must Die", I've been itching for more Bombo Dawson. This story doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Adding Alistair Foley to the mix is quite simply brilliant. The duo fit well together because they truly dislike one another, but find themselves working side-by-side to fix the Legendarium (a library unlike any other) before worlds collide and fall apart. However, they must first learn to work together and that's a tall order. Mainly, because Alistair thinks Bombo is a piss-poor writer and doesn't hesitate to leave a scathing review of Bombo's seminal work right before they're thrown together to save every world ever created through the written word, and in turn, our own.
You'll find a little bit of everything in Legendarium. For instance, if you enjoy fantastic writing, laughing out loud while you read and such things as libraries, books, adventures, bungling heroes who finally get it right after a whole lot of wrong, snappy dialogue, and characters whose flaws are all too believable and thus, endearing, this book is for you!
May 23, 2014
Nothing serious going on here, folks, not at all. Considering the characters, this is not a surprise. Although I do think that Bombo might be a bit upset that his love of donuts is the source of much amusement for his fans. He takes his donuts very seriously, after all. Alistair takes everything much too seriously, including himself, which is not all that funny, if you stop to think about it. The two of them together are a disaster, which is funny in a different way. By the middle of the book, though, I decided I liked Alistair and kind of felt sorry for him. The thing is, I think Bombo did, too.
The concept of the Legendarium itself is a wonderful thing. I want to go there, since our heroes are saving it for all to enjoy. It’s amazing what a sword can do. I find the idea that each book creates a separate universe very intriguing, and not especially funny, but some of the fictional characters are a hoot.
This book is a great deal of fun to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!
The concept of the Legendarium itself is a wonderful thing. I want to go there, since our heroes are saving it for all to enjoy. It’s amazing what a sword can do. I find the idea that each book creates a separate universe very intriguing, and not especially funny, but some of the fictional characters are a hoot.
This book is a great deal of fun to read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bravo!
February 20, 2020
So much fun - I love Bobo and Alastair! And opening the story with the great author Hugh Howey? Priceless. Would recommend this story to anyone who thinks that a tongue-in-cheek romp through some of the most revered novels in the Western canon sounds like a good way to spend a few hours.
January 30, 2016
A Fun Romp, But It Falls Short of Its Initial Promise
For me this started out laugh-out-loud funny. The beginning was almost like a reprise of the Christmas Carol. I mean, (real life best selling science fiction author) Hugh Howey, who is now a zombie who eats books, is visited by Kurt Vonnegut. Bombo Dawson, accidental best selling writer, fat man, and doughnut eater extraordinaire gets a visit from Tolstoy, who praises his work. Alistair Foley, a snippy creative writing teacher who gives Bombo his only one star review on Amazon and has never published his novel, gets a visit from a dolorous Thornton Wilder, who tells him his novel still needs work. Thus, the novel gets off to a promising start.
All of these writers have gotten visits from "ghost writers" (haha---dead famous authors) begging their help to save the Legendarium, a sort of metaphysical library that is a repository of stories--famous and unknown, published and lost. The Legendarium is failing and needs help.
Howey, now a zombie (apparently he fought off a zombie apocalypse in a previous book I didn't read called "Hugh Howey Must Die"), is chained to his desk to keep from destroying everything around him. He begs off, as he is not in a position to help.
Dawson and Foley reluctantly agree to go on this journey. Dawson temporarily takes leave of his wife, Carol, whom he describes as "Communist, vegetarian, and smoking hot" to go on this quest. Foley, who teaches creative writing at a community college is worried about missing his next class, but Wilder assure him that time in the Legendarium takes up no time in the "real world".
Dawson, and Foley, predictably, loath each other from the second they meet and are at each others' throats the whole time they journey through the Legendarium. They agree on almost nothing. Foley works out and puts down Dawson for being fat and out of shape, and constantly complaining that he's hungry and wants doughnuts and a cigar. Dawson snarks about Alistair's pony tail. They can barely agree about literature also. Dawson hates fantasy, likes Hemingway, Tolkien, and Lewis Carol. Foley hates Hemingway, but likes Hugh Howey, JK Rowling, and science fiction. Foley despises Lewis Carol. Foley sneers at self-publishing. Dawson, of course, is a self-published author. They are astonished when they find they both like "Moby Dick". But, in spite of it all, they reluctantly learn to respect each other. Foley considers deleting his bad review of Dawson's book; Dawson advises Foley to publish his novel.
I thought their actual trip through the Legendarium fell a bit short of the initial promise of the book. The rest of the book wasn't quite as funny as the beginning. Also I found the literary pastiche didn't quite cohere.
Tolstoy pushes them through the trap door to the Legendarium and the first place they end up is Wonderland. (I love Lewis Carol and found the Wonderland depicted here to be a bit pallid).
A knight--possibly the White Knight from "Through the Looking Glass" but it's not clear-- wants to kill the Jabberwock, but he's lost the Vorpal sword (as the Cheshire cat informs our heroes). And apparently the evil Mimsy Borogroves are causing problems everywhere.
Our heroes end up on a space ship called the Alamo-2 from a story called "Beyond the Stars" (????) by fictious African American author Russell Benjamin, that supposedly inspired Martin Luther King to become president in an alternate reality. Captain Haley dies, because they have failed to bring back plants to save him (which was supposed to have been their mission). The Mimsy Borogroves show up disguised as evil Martians and destroy the ship.
They are then transported to the Prohibition Era and end up in a "lost" Hemingway story called "The Pugilist". Foley interferes with the story line (realizing too late that their mission is to keep the story intact). The original story was that the pugilist, Jack, bet his competitor Daniel a night with his girlfriend, Agnes, a beautiful woman, if he loses the boxing match. He loses and hangs himself. However, Foley persuades Agnes to ditch Jack (which wasn't supposed to happen as it wasn't in the original story). So they fail again.
Finally, they end up in "Moby Dick" on the Pequod, while Ahab battles the White Whale. Amazingly, both Dawson and Foley love "Moby Dick" and they finally realize their mission is to keep the story line intact (the degradation of the Legendarium means the stories are falling apart). They retrieve the Vorpal sword (it's stuck into Moby Dick's side) and save the Legendarium. Both men return to their lives.
Anyway, I found the part of the story that took place in the Legendarium somewhat less engaging than the beginning of the tale. The versions of Wonderland and the Pequod were a little pallid compared to the original stories.
Still this is a fun, engaging, and refreshing story, in spite of its flaws.
The battle between Dawson and Foley keeps things interesting.
For me this started out laugh-out-loud funny. The beginning was almost like a reprise of the Christmas Carol. I mean, (real life best selling science fiction author) Hugh Howey, who is now a zombie who eats books, is visited by Kurt Vonnegut. Bombo Dawson, accidental best selling writer, fat man, and doughnut eater extraordinaire gets a visit from Tolstoy, who praises his work. Alistair Foley, a snippy creative writing teacher who gives Bombo his only one star review on Amazon and has never published his novel, gets a visit from a dolorous Thornton Wilder, who tells him his novel still needs work. Thus, the novel gets off to a promising start.
All of these writers have gotten visits from "ghost writers" (haha---dead famous authors) begging their help to save the Legendarium, a sort of metaphysical library that is a repository of stories--famous and unknown, published and lost. The Legendarium is failing and needs help.
Howey, now a zombie (apparently he fought off a zombie apocalypse in a previous book I didn't read called "Hugh Howey Must Die"), is chained to his desk to keep from destroying everything around him. He begs off, as he is not in a position to help.
Dawson and Foley reluctantly agree to go on this journey. Dawson temporarily takes leave of his wife, Carol, whom he describes as "Communist, vegetarian, and smoking hot" to go on this quest. Foley, who teaches creative writing at a community college is worried about missing his next class, but Wilder assure him that time in the Legendarium takes up no time in the "real world".
Dawson, and Foley, predictably, loath each other from the second they meet and are at each others' throats the whole time they journey through the Legendarium. They agree on almost nothing. Foley works out and puts down Dawson for being fat and out of shape, and constantly complaining that he's hungry and wants doughnuts and a cigar. Dawson snarks about Alistair's pony tail. They can barely agree about literature also. Dawson hates fantasy, likes Hemingway, Tolkien, and Lewis Carol. Foley hates Hemingway, but likes Hugh Howey, JK Rowling, and science fiction. Foley despises Lewis Carol. Foley sneers at self-publishing. Dawson, of course, is a self-published author. They are astonished when they find they both like "Moby Dick". But, in spite of it all, they reluctantly learn to respect each other. Foley considers deleting his bad review of Dawson's book; Dawson advises Foley to publish his novel.
I thought their actual trip through the Legendarium fell a bit short of the initial promise of the book. The rest of the book wasn't quite as funny as the beginning. Also I found the literary pastiche didn't quite cohere.
Tolstoy pushes them through the trap door to the Legendarium and the first place they end up is Wonderland. (I love Lewis Carol and found the Wonderland depicted here to be a bit pallid).
A knight--possibly the White Knight from "Through the Looking Glass" but it's not clear-- wants to kill the Jabberwock, but he's lost the Vorpal sword (as the Cheshire cat informs our heroes). And apparently the evil Mimsy Borogroves are causing problems everywhere.
Our heroes end up on a space ship called the Alamo-2 from a story called "Beyond the Stars" (????) by fictious African American author Russell Benjamin, that supposedly inspired Martin Luther King to become president in an alternate reality. Captain Haley dies, because they have failed to bring back plants to save him (which was supposed to have been their mission). The Mimsy Borogroves show up disguised as evil Martians and destroy the ship.
They are then transported to the Prohibition Era and end up in a "lost" Hemingway story called "The Pugilist". Foley interferes with the story line (realizing too late that their mission is to keep the story intact). The original story was that the pugilist, Jack, bet his competitor Daniel a night with his girlfriend, Agnes, a beautiful woman, if he loses the boxing match. He loses and hangs himself. However, Foley persuades Agnes to ditch Jack (which wasn't supposed to happen as it wasn't in the original story). So they fail again.
Finally, they end up in "Moby Dick" on the Pequod, while Ahab battles the White Whale. Amazingly, both Dawson and Foley love "Moby Dick" and they finally realize their mission is to keep the story line intact (the degradation of the Legendarium means the stories are falling apart). They retrieve the Vorpal sword (it's stuck into Moby Dick's side) and save the Legendarium. Both men return to their lives.
Anyway, I found the part of the story that took place in the Legendarium somewhat less engaging than the beginning of the tale. The versions of Wonderland and the Pequod were a little pallid compared to the original stories.
Still this is a fun, engaging, and refreshing story, in spite of its flaws.
The battle between Dawson and Foley keeps things interesting.
February 12, 2016
This short enjoyable book is a funny in the way Monty Python or Terry Prachett is funny -- a good thing. The Legendarium is a library that stands at the nexus of all the worlds and has all the stories ever written in all the worlds. Something weird is going on and it seems that the Legendarium is in danger of being destroyed. That catastrophic event would change the timelines in every world and even destroy the world. Stories, it seems, influence the actions, imagination, and thinking in the world where the stories were created.
So the spirits of great writers call on live great writers to save the Legendarium. Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley are called in by the ghostly writers (get it?!!) to save the multiverse. Since they are sworn enemies, they bicker and blunder their way to saving the worlds. Full of puns, inside writer/book jokes, and general uproarious fun. A nice short read.
A note on the audio-book. The narrator rocked this; achieving the right tone of seriousness while delivering some outrage job in a completely deadpan voice. Did a great job on all the different voices.
So the spirits of great writers call on live great writers to save the Legendarium. Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley are called in by the ghostly writers (get it?!!) to save the multiverse. Since they are sworn enemies, they bicker and blunder their way to saving the worlds. Full of puns, inside writer/book jokes, and general uproarious fun. A nice short read.
A note on the audio-book. The narrator rocked this; achieving the right tone of seriousness while delivering some outrage job in a completely deadpan voice. Did a great job on all the different voices.
July 29, 2014
Legendarium is a fun romp with two irascible personalities in Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley. They are, perhaps, the two unlikeliest heroes you could imagine to be tasked with saving the titular library where all stories intersect. And their dislike for one another is a comedic engine that just keeps pumping out good punch lines.
Summers and Bunker do a nice job of balancing the sometimes slapstick interplay of the two main characters with the importance of their epic quest. Bombo and Alistair join various story worlds, from Alice in Wonderland to Moby Dick, along the way, and seeing this latter-day Abbott and Costello interact with the Cheshire Cat and Ahab, among others, is a lot of fun.
The brevity of the novella—about the equivalent of a half-novel—is a great way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon looking for laughs among literary giants. (And no I’m not referring to Bombo and Alistair there.)
Summers and Bunker do a nice job of balancing the sometimes slapstick interplay of the two main characters with the importance of their epic quest. Bombo and Alistair join various story worlds, from Alice in Wonderland to Moby Dick, along the way, and seeing this latter-day Abbott and Costello interact with the Cheshire Cat and Ahab, among others, is a lot of fun.
The brevity of the novella—about the equivalent of a half-novel—is a great way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon looking for laughs among literary giants. (And no I’m not referring to Bombo and Alistair there.)
June 2, 2015
Fun little short. Two men go on an adventure to discover and rescue great books like Moby Dick and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I love intertextuality when it's used this way to let the reader look back nostalgically. To an extent, Legendarium is a discussion about the process of reading, so as an English teacher, I loved it. However, the dialogue was cheesy and a little inane at times. I would have liked a female character, but alas... None to be had.
December 31, 2014
Not sure what I just listened to. It is definitely very weird. It was good for a quick read at the end of the year. :)
A mash up of authors and stories, including zombie and ghost authors. Very weird, not awful somehow.
A mash up of authors and stories, including zombie and ghost authors. Very weird, not awful somehow.
April 16, 2015
This is a really entertaining book, an homage to literature written by two of the most promising indie authors.
June 12, 2019
The sign of a good story is one that readers will not want to put down. The sign of a great story is one that readers will not put down and finish within a day. Writers Michael Bunker and Kevin G. Summers collaborated on such a great book and titled it Legendarium. Legendarium is a quick read, a relatable read, and an enjoyable read for any reader who is in love with books and stories.
The Legendarium is a library that houses doors which lead to every world in the literary universe. From classics to science fiction to history to fantasy, a door can be found. However, a darkness threatens the Legendarium and the literary worlds are facing extinction. Who can save these stories from fading away forever? Two unlikely heroes are chosen. Two heroes who hate each other, but must work together to save the Legendarium: writer of Anne Askew In The Tower, Bombo Dawson, and his worst critic, creative writing professor Alistair Foley.
A book about books will grip any avid reader and book lover’s attention. Legendarium is such a fun story for anyone looking for an enjoyable read that will get them away from reality for a couple of hours. It contains just the right amount of wit, humor, and reader contradictions. Really, the only downside to Bunker and Summers’ story is that it is so short. There are so many opportunities for other literary worlds to be incorporated into future books and both of the authors mention there could be more stories of Bombo and Alistair in the future, but it would have been more fun to read about more literary worlds in Legendarium.
Regardless of its short length and its minimal amount of literary worlds, Legendarium contains so much for readers to enjoy. The writing, for example, is exquisite and readers may forget while reading Legendarium that it was written by two authors. The writing styles of both Bunker and Summers intertwine so beautifully together that one could not tell who wrote which parts. Summers even mentioned in his author’s note (Bunker & Summers 150) that he wasn’t really sure who wrote what.
To go along with their fluent writing style, there are great lines that should be shared with everyone. One such line is when a character named Hugh Howey is visited by Kurt Vonnegut who appears to him from his bathroom: “He’d seen a lot in his lifetime, but having a dead author — one of his favorites, mind you — step out of his crapper in a glow of heavenly light was unusual to say the least” (Bunker & Summers 6). And the beautiful paragraph of the Legendarium itself: “The first thing that hit Bombo Dawson as he entered the Legendarium was the smell. It was musty and leathery and sweet and acrid all at the same time. It was the smell of eternity and ink and the distilled creative labors of lifetimes” (Bunker & Summers 33). These are just a couple of wonderful lines of prose and dialog readers will find within Legendarium.
The two main heroes the readers follow are just as great as the prose and dialog. Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley are wonderfully verbal and incredibly entertaining. It is a great fighting rivalry-like relationship turned friendship and, throughout the book’s entirety, they are always contradicting one another. One likes fantasy while the other hates it, one believes in self-publishing while the other is strongly against it, and so on. The contradictions are great for readers to see because not every reader is alike. Different genres and different stories will speak to different people. As writer Edmund Wilson said, “No two persons ever read the same book.”
Any book about books will do whatever it can to explain the importance of books in life to any reader, book lover or not. Bunker and Summers did an amazing job of incorporating how books impact people and the choices they make. Books are not just for entertainment or for assignments: they can truly touch people’s lives in ways no one could imagine and change and inspire these same lives. Not to mention any book lover will not even need an introduction to the Legendarium. Avid readers will be able to picture the world’s largest fictional library perfectly in their minds because it is whatever they can visualize as the library of their dreams.
Legendarium is a story that should be read and enjoyed in a day. It is a story that should be expanded upon and should, in future books, reach out and take place in other well-known and even not-so-well-known literary worlds. It is a story that any book lover will fall in love with upon reading. It is a wonderful introduction to the adventures of Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley and readers can only hope upon finishing Legendarium that Bunker and Summers will team up again to write future adventures through more literary worlds.
**Originally published on January 14, 2016 through www.examiner.com. Moved to my blog, Roll Out Reviews (www.rolloutreviews.com) on August 22, 2016**
The Legendarium is a library that houses doors which lead to every world in the literary universe. From classics to science fiction to history to fantasy, a door can be found. However, a darkness threatens the Legendarium and the literary worlds are facing extinction. Who can save these stories from fading away forever? Two unlikely heroes are chosen. Two heroes who hate each other, but must work together to save the Legendarium: writer of Anne Askew In The Tower, Bombo Dawson, and his worst critic, creative writing professor Alistair Foley.
A book about books will grip any avid reader and book lover’s attention. Legendarium is such a fun story for anyone looking for an enjoyable read that will get them away from reality for a couple of hours. It contains just the right amount of wit, humor, and reader contradictions. Really, the only downside to Bunker and Summers’ story is that it is so short. There are so many opportunities for other literary worlds to be incorporated into future books and both of the authors mention there could be more stories of Bombo and Alistair in the future, but it would have been more fun to read about more literary worlds in Legendarium.
Regardless of its short length and its minimal amount of literary worlds, Legendarium contains so much for readers to enjoy. The writing, for example, is exquisite and readers may forget while reading Legendarium that it was written by two authors. The writing styles of both Bunker and Summers intertwine so beautifully together that one could not tell who wrote which parts. Summers even mentioned in his author’s note (Bunker & Summers 150) that he wasn’t really sure who wrote what.
To go along with their fluent writing style, there are great lines that should be shared with everyone. One such line is when a character named Hugh Howey is visited by Kurt Vonnegut who appears to him from his bathroom: “He’d seen a lot in his lifetime, but having a dead author — one of his favorites, mind you — step out of his crapper in a glow of heavenly light was unusual to say the least” (Bunker & Summers 6). And the beautiful paragraph of the Legendarium itself: “The first thing that hit Bombo Dawson as he entered the Legendarium was the smell. It was musty and leathery and sweet and acrid all at the same time. It was the smell of eternity and ink and the distilled creative labors of lifetimes” (Bunker & Summers 33). These are just a couple of wonderful lines of prose and dialog readers will find within Legendarium.
The two main heroes the readers follow are just as great as the prose and dialog. Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley are wonderfully verbal and incredibly entertaining. It is a great fighting rivalry-like relationship turned friendship and, throughout the book’s entirety, they are always contradicting one another. One likes fantasy while the other hates it, one believes in self-publishing while the other is strongly against it, and so on. The contradictions are great for readers to see because not every reader is alike. Different genres and different stories will speak to different people. As writer Edmund Wilson said, “No two persons ever read the same book.”
Any book about books will do whatever it can to explain the importance of books in life to any reader, book lover or not. Bunker and Summers did an amazing job of incorporating how books impact people and the choices they make. Books are not just for entertainment or for assignments: they can truly touch people’s lives in ways no one could imagine and change and inspire these same lives. Not to mention any book lover will not even need an introduction to the Legendarium. Avid readers will be able to picture the world’s largest fictional library perfectly in their minds because it is whatever they can visualize as the library of their dreams.
Legendarium is a story that should be read and enjoyed in a day. It is a story that should be expanded upon and should, in future books, reach out and take place in other well-known and even not-so-well-known literary worlds. It is a story that any book lover will fall in love with upon reading. It is a wonderful introduction to the adventures of Bombo Dawson and Alistair Foley and readers can only hope upon finishing Legendarium that Bunker and Summers will team up again to write future adventures through more literary worlds.
**Originally published on January 14, 2016 through www.examiner.com. Moved to my blog, Roll Out Reviews (www.rolloutreviews.com) on August 22, 2016**
May 13, 2021
The second time I've read this book, over 6 years after the first reading, remembered virtually nothing (before I implemented purposeful memory techniques to recall information). Purchased the author's second book, a sequel that was just released a few months back, and that I've been anticipating for over half a decade. That being said reading this text anew has taken some luster off from the memory of my fondness of the text. It's not bad, however, it's clearly incomplete.
Legendarium follows two main characters Alaister Fowley (a literary critic/blogger - and who's name sounds suspiciously like Aliester Crowley), and Bombo Dawson (and which sounds suspiciously close to Bilbo Baggins), a fiction author, who are selected by the guardians of the Legendarium (who happen to be dead authors, and who's name is based off of Tolkien concept), to protect it. This Legendarium is a sort of interstices of different "planes", which can include fictional (a world where Carroll's Wonderland is real, or Hemingway's stories are real etc.) and "our" world and alternative versions of it.
Reading this book again, beyond the fact that the concept is not novel, nor is the execution the cleanest, the story is still fun. The relationship growth between Fowley and Dawson is a bit rushed, but given that this book is a novella, that is to be expected. I don't think someone who isn't in love with the concept of "fiction-turned-real" will like this book. However, those are have a predilection to this kind of story (which includes myself), this was a good read. It leaves a wide opening for the sequel, and I look forward to start my reading of that text. Conditional recommend for weird people who really love books.
Legendarium follows two main characters Alaister Fowley (a literary critic/blogger - and who's name sounds suspiciously like Aliester Crowley), and Bombo Dawson (and which sounds suspiciously close to Bilbo Baggins), a fiction author, who are selected by the guardians of the Legendarium (who happen to be dead authors, and who's name is based off of Tolkien concept), to protect it. This Legendarium is a sort of interstices of different "planes", which can include fictional (a world where Carroll's Wonderland is real, or Hemingway's stories are real etc.) and "our" world and alternative versions of it.
Reading this book again, beyond the fact that the concept is not novel, nor is the execution the cleanest, the story is still fun. The relationship growth between Fowley and Dawson is a bit rushed, but given that this book is a novella, that is to be expected. I don't think someone who isn't in love with the concept of "fiction-turned-real" will like this book. However, those are have a predilection to this kind of story (which includes myself), this was a good read. It leaves a wide opening for the sequel, and I look forward to start my reading of that text. Conditional recommend for weird people who really love books.
January 4, 2020
Cover: 4 Stars.
Idea: 3.5 Stars.
Writing: 2.5 Stars.
Which equals 1 star because?... BECAUSE ON PAGE 113 THE WRONG ‘YOUR’ IS USED. As in, “You’re friend broke my story.”
Listen. I liked the goofy HHMD story enough to purchase this follow up in a physical book format. THE ACTUAL PAPER VERSION. So when I find things like the wrong your/you’re being used, it drives me insane. For all the times it was reviewed and checked before publishing, no one caught that?
Additionally, for the love of all things good, hire someone to correctly format and space your type for the print version. I know it’s not the most important thing in the grand scheme but it is still important. The sentences ran really close to the edges of the page, while there was a large gap near the spine. And talk about some gigantic potholes in the paragraphs, thanks to the paragraph style. Argh.
This was a quick read, and I think it would’ve been better as a book that stretched a little further and had more time to develop some ideas and scenes. Unfortunately this one was enough to cement me in a position of not visiting the Bombo Dawson franchise again.
Idea: 3.5 Stars.
Writing: 2.5 Stars.
Which equals 1 star because?... BECAUSE ON PAGE 113 THE WRONG ‘YOUR’ IS USED. As in, “You’re friend broke my story.”
Listen. I liked the goofy HHMD story enough to purchase this follow up in a physical book format. THE ACTUAL PAPER VERSION. So when I find things like the wrong your/you’re being used, it drives me insane. For all the times it was reviewed and checked before publishing, no one caught that?
Additionally, for the love of all things good, hire someone to correctly format and space your type for the print version. I know it’s not the most important thing in the grand scheme but it is still important. The sentences ran really close to the edges of the page, while there was a large gap near the spine. And talk about some gigantic potholes in the paragraphs, thanks to the paragraph style. Argh.
This was a quick read, and I think it would’ve been better as a book that stretched a little further and had more time to develop some ideas and scenes. Unfortunately this one was enough to cement me in a position of not visiting the Bombo Dawson franchise again.
May 11, 2018
I was very torn between 3 and four stars. It ultimately came down to personal preferences.
First, on the positive side, it was really fun world building. Like Fforde's Thursday Next Series and Underwood's Genrenauts, this is a fun world for anyone who reads.
If the characters had been running laps through my favorite books instead of books I've never read or didn't like, this would probably be a five star book. However, for me I was not a huge fan of the two main characters and am not a huge fan of the various books that are discussed.
First, on the positive side, it was really fun world building. Like Fforde's Thursday Next Series and Underwood's Genrenauts, this is a fun world for anyone who reads.
If the characters had been running laps through my favorite books instead of books I've never read or didn't like, this would probably be a five star book. However, for me I was not a huge fan of the two main characters and am not a huge fan of the various books that are discussed.
August 7, 2019
Yep, a quirky, interesting read. I wish I had access to that place - without the being dead thing, obviously.
Proves that everyone wants to save the bookiverse, and even a skeptic and a believer can work together to that very purpose when worlds collide.
And everyone's a book critic. Just saying...
Proves that everyone wants to save the bookiverse, and even a skeptic and a believer can work together to that very purpose when worlds collide.
And everyone's a book critic. Just saying...
October 14, 2018
A strange and yet very fascinating short story about the adventures of two opposites who find themselves rushing against the clock to save several literary worlds. Well worth a read especially if you enjoy fast books with bookish references!
October 29, 2017
fun read! Hints of Fforde's Thursday Next series and Scalzi's Red Shirts. Almost makes me want to read Hemingway or Melville...almost
December 21, 2017
I enjoyed listening to the unabridged version of this audio book and plan to seek more by this author
December 28, 2017
Quirky story that jumps from one story book to another as two characters who hate each other try to right the storybook world. It was fun at times but also bogged down at times.
December 31, 2017
A bit silly (goofy, even) but fun to read and a challenge to recognize all the literary references. A pleasant and amusing diversion, great for a snowy winter afternoon.
August 29, 2019
I love both of these authors, but I didn't know most the references, so it became boring and distracting to me.
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