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Monkey Queen #1
Of Introductions And Abductions
"How would you like to help me save the world?"
It had been just another bad Friday for Beth McGill, lonely college student and geek girl. But when the teen hero Michiko Koyama, the Monkey Queen, rescues Beth from an ogre, both of their lives are turned upside down. And when a mutual friend is kidnapped, Michiko and Beth are brought together to find him. They'll have to deal with faeries, hobgoblins, a ravenous troll and a sarcastic guinea pig...and the dark masterminds behind the abduction. Danger and adventure lay ahead...and so do pancakes, a dinner party, and a new friendship that may lead to something more.
It'll be a weekend Michiko and Beth will never forget...if they survive to see Monday morning.
Join the adventure with Michiko and Beth in this first book in the Monkey Queen series! Fantasy with heroines, humor and heart!
It had been just another bad Friday for Beth McGill, lonely college student and geek girl. But when the teen hero Michiko Koyama, the Monkey Queen, rescues Beth from an ogre, both of their lives are turned upside down. And when a mutual friend is kidnapped, Michiko and Beth are brought together to find him. They'll have to deal with faeries, hobgoblins, a ravenous troll and a sarcastic guinea pig...and the dark masterminds behind the abduction. Danger and adventure lay ahead...and so do pancakes, a dinner party, and a new friendship that may lead to something more.
It'll be a weekend Michiko and Beth will never forget...if they survive to see Monday morning.
Join the adventure with Michiko and Beth in this first book in the Monkey Queen series! Fantasy with heroines, humor and heart!
150 pages, Paperback
First published September 10, 2014
8 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Robert Dahlen
17 books22 followersFantasy novelist, all-around wisecracker, baker of cookies and penguin aficionado. Lives in California with lots of penguins (no surprise), a tablet stuffed with e-books and works in progress, a frighteningly large collection of Disney Infinity figures and a very nice hat. Hopefully working on more Monkey Queen stories (and other projects) as you read this.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 19, 2016
I picked this up because I read a short story set in the same universe by the author and it was fantabulous. This book did not disappoint. It reads like it straddles the line between YA and NA and I really liked that. It also has a delightfully geeky lead female in Beth, one who is like myself and so many of my friends. I liked the story and how it called back to its folkloric roots. I liked that a couple characters that he could have taken in a traditional baddie role ended up ADORABLE (particularly with the names). It's a recommend, particularly to geeky girls of all ages.
March 27, 2015
A totally fun adventure that takes a cool twist on the Monkey King legends with a geek girl and the Monkey Queen who partner up to save a friend in need.
The book is light-hearted, easy reading that I feel would be well suited for tweens and teens and kids of all ages.
For the geeks like me, there's plenty of geek-humor references, and for the Sun Wukong aficionados, also like me, there's a good dose of Monkey King lore, parallels to Journey to the West, and some really adorable adaptations of classic characters.
The overall feel of the story made me think this would make an EPIC Saturday morning cartoon! And with the cover artist's awesome style, I can just picture the whole story in my head as I go. I'd totally watch that if it ever happened!
Anyway, the plot is pretty straight forward, but go in expecting a quick, fun adventure and you won't be disappointed.
The book is light-hearted, easy reading that I feel would be well suited for tweens and teens and kids of all ages.
For the geeks like me, there's plenty of geek-humor references, and for the Sun Wukong aficionados, also like me, there's a good dose of Monkey King lore, parallels to Journey to the West, and some really adorable adaptations of classic characters.
The overall feel of the story made me think this would make an EPIC Saturday morning cartoon! And with the cover artist's awesome style, I can just picture the whole story in my head as I go. I'd totally watch that if it ever happened!
Anyway, the plot is pretty straight forward, but go in expecting a quick, fun adventure and you won't be disappointed.
January 1, 2016
The writing mechanics and copy editing are excellent. It's basically a light piece of manga without pictures. Lots of witty banter between the two main characters. I enjoyed the descriptive parts, more than the few fight scenes. (I obtained this through a Bookbub freebie offer.)
February 23, 2022
What a fun book
This is my cousins 1st book of the Monkey Queen series. I am honored to have read his work. This book kept the interest of my young teen boy. I think you will enjoy it too!
This is my cousins 1st book of the Monkey Queen series. I am honored to have read his work. This book kept the interest of my young teen boy. I think you will enjoy it too!
June 20, 2015
An Entertaining, Upbeat, Mildly-Guilty Pleasure
This book starts a bit slowly since our heroine, Beth, is pretty angsty and depressed as the story opens. One begins to fear a whiny drama queen extravaganza. But wait. A few pages in Beth is attacked by a mysterious stranger and saved by heroine number two - the Monkey Queen, Michiko, of the title. The Monkey Queen is a milder superhero version of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King hero of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West". (His story is told briefly in the book, or you can look it up on Wikipedia for a fuller version.)
Right off the bat there are two things to note. First, the references to "Journey to the West" means there's more going on here than just some fairy-fest. Second, and much more important, Michiko is a total hoot. She's funny, skilled, insanely upbeat, cool, and so high-energy that she drives the whole book, all of the characters, and especially Beth, ahead of her. Michiko needs Beth, and a special talent of Beth's, in order to accomplish her work here on Earth. The book plays out as an extended job offer, with Michiko encouraging Beth to sign on for the wild ride and Beth starting to get into the spirit of the adventure. Beth thus moves from depressing drip, to conflicted good guy, to gung-ho sidekick as the book progresses. This transformation is a large part of the fun.
The plot is all over the place, involves bad guys and super-secret bad guys, double crosses and generally bad multi-species behavior. But that's not really the point. This book is driven by a number of very funny set pieces, some witty dialogue, and a huge cast of well conceived and engaging characters. At a breakfast joint that's sort of a Rick's Cafe/Star Wars Cantina we meet all of the different sorts who have fled faerieland to settle on Earth. We attend a weird faerie party. We meet a strange and powerful old-one wizard type. These set pieces are amusing and inventive.
We also have trolls, bad faeries, good faeries, hobgoblins, multi-dimensional dinosaurs, and what-have-you, and they all actually work pretty well, and often have a knack for snappy patter.
Don't get the wrong idea. Some of the writing can be pretty spotty. There's a lot of exposition to keep things moving along at a fast pace. The plot doesn't withstand deep critical thought. This is not adult high fantasy. But, for a tween or young YA audience that is willing to skip over some bumpy parts in the name of entertainment, and for any reader who just likes a good-natured, high energy romp, this is a nice find.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
This book starts a bit slowly since our heroine, Beth, is pretty angsty and depressed as the story opens. One begins to fear a whiny drama queen extravaganza. But wait. A few pages in Beth is attacked by a mysterious stranger and saved by heroine number two - the Monkey Queen, Michiko, of the title. The Monkey Queen is a milder superhero version of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King hero of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West". (His story is told briefly in the book, or you can look it up on Wikipedia for a fuller version.)
Right off the bat there are two things to note. First, the references to "Journey to the West" means there's more going on here than just some fairy-fest. Second, and much more important, Michiko is a total hoot. She's funny, skilled, insanely upbeat, cool, and so high-energy that she drives the whole book, all of the characters, and especially Beth, ahead of her. Michiko needs Beth, and a special talent of Beth's, in order to accomplish her work here on Earth. The book plays out as an extended job offer, with Michiko encouraging Beth to sign on for the wild ride and Beth starting to get into the spirit of the adventure. Beth thus moves from depressing drip, to conflicted good guy, to gung-ho sidekick as the book progresses. This transformation is a large part of the fun.
The plot is all over the place, involves bad guys and super-secret bad guys, double crosses and generally bad multi-species behavior. But that's not really the point. This book is driven by a number of very funny set pieces, some witty dialogue, and a huge cast of well conceived and engaging characters. At a breakfast joint that's sort of a Rick's Cafe/Star Wars Cantina we meet all of the different sorts who have fled faerieland to settle on Earth. We attend a weird faerie party. We meet a strange and powerful old-one wizard type. These set pieces are amusing and inventive.
We also have trolls, bad faeries, good faeries, hobgoblins, multi-dimensional dinosaurs, and what-have-you, and they all actually work pretty well, and often have a knack for snappy patter.
Don't get the wrong idea. Some of the writing can be pretty spotty. There's a lot of exposition to keep things moving along at a fast pace. The plot doesn't withstand deep critical thought. This is not adult high fantasy. But, for a tween or young YA audience that is willing to skip over some bumpy parts in the name of entertainment, and for any reader who just likes a good-natured, high energy romp, this is a nice find.
Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book in exchange for a candid review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.
November 11, 2016
I'm afraid this one didn't quite do it for me.
It's a difficult book to categorise, in that, while the main character is at college, it reads much more early YA or even middle grade, with simple sentences and flat characters who are universally either nice and helpful or easily defeated.
It was the "easily defeated" part, I think, that dropped it to three stars for me. The character who carries the point of view (apart from one POV glitch and an occasional "elsewhere" scene) lacks fighting skills; she has, instead, the ability to see through magical glamours, which sometimes, though not always, destroys them so that other people can see through them too. The other main character, the Monkey Queen of the title, is a martial arts master who can defeat most of their opponents easily. Together, they overcome their obstacles in a fairly linear fashion, and without much in the way of try-fail cycles. People seldom if ever refuse to help them, and their opponents don't achieve much menace. The tension never gets a chance to become palpable, and, in the absence of real challenge, the characters don't achieve much depth.
I'm aware that similar flaws exist in some of my own early writing; in fact, it's largely because I became aware of those flaws that I'm so sensitised to them in other people's work.
The editing is mostly good, apart from "fallow" used instead of "sallow" and "pretense" instead of "pretext". The author does have an annoying habit of putting an unnecessary comma after the word "then" at the start of a sentence; other than that the prose is simple, but competent.
It was OK, but it never really sparked for me.
It's a difficult book to categorise, in that, while the main character is at college, it reads much more early YA or even middle grade, with simple sentences and flat characters who are universally either nice and helpful or easily defeated.
It was the "easily defeated" part, I think, that dropped it to three stars for me. The character who carries the point of view (apart from one POV glitch and an occasional "elsewhere" scene) lacks fighting skills; she has, instead, the ability to see through magical glamours, which sometimes, though not always, destroys them so that other people can see through them too. The other main character, the Monkey Queen of the title, is a martial arts master who can defeat most of their opponents easily. Together, they overcome their obstacles in a fairly linear fashion, and without much in the way of try-fail cycles. People seldom if ever refuse to help them, and their opponents don't achieve much menace. The tension never gets a chance to become palpable, and, in the absence of real challenge, the characters don't achieve much depth.
I'm aware that similar flaws exist in some of my own early writing; in fact, it's largely because I became aware of those flaws that I'm so sensitised to them in other people's work.
The editing is mostly good, apart from "fallow" used instead of "sallow" and "pretense" instead of "pretext". The author does have an annoying habit of putting an unnecessary comma after the word "then" at the start of a sentence; other than that the prose is simple, but competent.
It was OK, but it never really sparked for me.
May 26, 2015
"Of Introductions and Abductions" brings us a new young adult series called Monkey Queen. The author, Robert Dahlen, based the Monkey Queen off the Chinese legend of the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, opening up a fantasy world involving Chinese beliefs and legends.
The story's protagonist is a young lady named Beth McGill, a student at Cooper College and an acknowledged geek. She loves all things sci-fi, fantasy, Doctor Who, and Dresden, and she misses having anyone to discuss her passions.
Through a quirk, Beth comes to the attention of the Monkey Queen, who needs Beth to help her save the world, plus Beth's favorite professor. At first, Beth hesitates but then she decides to try. No commitments, just taking once chance.
I will tell you no more of the story, because you need to read it for yourself to understand the appeal of this book. The author refers to modern culture and mixes in some ancient Chinese legends to create a wonderful new place to explore. Beth learns about herself, about the world around her, and about friendship. The Monkey Queen learns that it's better to have Beth on her side. And everyone learns that guinea pigs are awesome!!
This novel is a light, fun read filled with hope and optimism. It's a nice change of pace from the current heavy and dark books out there. I recommend "Of Introductions and Abductions" to everyone who wants to kick back and enjoy a good book.
The story's protagonist is a young lady named Beth McGill, a student at Cooper College and an acknowledged geek. She loves all things sci-fi, fantasy, Doctor Who, and Dresden, and she misses having anyone to discuss her passions.
Through a quirk, Beth comes to the attention of the Monkey Queen, who needs Beth to help her save the world, plus Beth's favorite professor. At first, Beth hesitates but then she decides to try. No commitments, just taking once chance.
I will tell you no more of the story, because you need to read it for yourself to understand the appeal of this book. The author refers to modern culture and mixes in some ancient Chinese legends to create a wonderful new place to explore. Beth learns about herself, about the world around her, and about friendship. The Monkey Queen learns that it's better to have Beth on her side. And everyone learns that guinea pigs are awesome!!
This novel is a light, fun read filled with hope and optimism. It's a nice change of pace from the current heavy and dark books out there. I recommend "Of Introductions and Abductions" to everyone who wants to kick back and enjoy a good book.
June 8, 2015
**I received this book from the author/publisher for my honest review**
This was the first story in The Monkey Queen series and it holds great promise. There is a little bit of something for everyone. Beth, the geeky college girl who feels a bit out of place, like no one gets her love for cosplay and all things geek doesn’t just let things happen to her. Her growth is evident throughout the story. There are fairies, hobgoblins, trolls, wizards and much more. The main character, Michiko, is a new take on the Monkey King legends. She has a vivid personality that is easy to love and will engage younger readers ( 9+ ). There is plenty of action and suspense as the girls try to solve the mystery. My favorite part of this story is the light hearted fun and upbeat, positive attitude Michiko brings. She is a serious butt kicking heroine when needed but a fun loving teen when she’s not trying to save the world (and sometimes she is saving the world with a happy smile on her face and joke on her tongue). I easily would recommend this to readers young and old who enjoy paranormal, superheroes, and mystery.
***Review has been done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official. For more information regarding our reviews please visit our Fansite: www.facebook.com/NerdGirl.ng ***
This was the first story in The Monkey Queen series and it holds great promise. There is a little bit of something for everyone. Beth, the geeky college girl who feels a bit out of place, like no one gets her love for cosplay and all things geek doesn’t just let things happen to her. Her growth is evident throughout the story. There are fairies, hobgoblins, trolls, wizards and much more. The main character, Michiko, is a new take on the Monkey King legends. She has a vivid personality that is easy to love and will engage younger readers ( 9+ ). There is plenty of action and suspense as the girls try to solve the mystery. My favorite part of this story is the light hearted fun and upbeat, positive attitude Michiko brings. She is a serious butt kicking heroine when needed but a fun loving teen when she’s not trying to save the world (and sometimes she is saving the world with a happy smile on her face and joke on her tongue). I easily would recommend this to readers young and old who enjoy paranormal, superheroes, and mystery.
***Review has been done in conjunction with Nerd Girl Official. For more information regarding our reviews please visit our Fansite: www.facebook.com/NerdGirl.ng ***
September 3, 2015
Beth McGill was having a very bad Friday what with roommate issues, college life far from home, and now an ogre was attacking her. Then Michiko, aka The Monkey Queen, stepped in, smacked up the ogres and introduced her to a world of magic where college professors could be a kidnapped fae in disguise and nothing is as it seems to be, especially the food. If you are looking for a quick, light-hearted adventure tale, Of introductions and Abductions could just be your ticket!
September 29, 2014
This was a really fun read that opens a series. I'm looking forward to the next installments. It is wonderful to have female lead characters who rescue others instead of waiting around to get rescued. I also enjoyed the geek references the characters make throughout their adventure. And, who can resist a grumpy guinea pig that used to be a wizard.
January 8, 2015
Yay! A light and funny story set in a California college town, with a college student heroine, plunged into adventure with all kinds of hidden fantasy characters mingling in the "real" world as well as travel into faerie. I loved the whimsy and humor. Highly recommended.
March 28, 2015
The Monkey Queen (Introductions and Abductions) is a quirky and imaginative story about Michiko (The Monkey Queen), her pal Beth McGill, the guinea pig Gregor (who does magic) and various ogres, faeries and hobgoblins. I found it very entertaining.
June 2, 2015
Review copy from NetGalley
July 4, 2016
I didn't find it overly interesting but that doesn't mean other people won't. It just didn't keep me hooked.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews