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Cucumber Quest #3
Cucumber Quest: The Melody Kingdom
Now with Princess Nautilus as part of their entourage, Cucumber and Almond travel to Trebleopolis to warn Princess Piano that Noisemaster, second of the Nightmare Knight's minions, might be after her! Unfortunately, they arrive just in time for Queen Cymbal's birthday and the Queen refuses to stop the festivities . . . that is until Noisemaster succeeds in capturing Princess Piano and threatens to destroy the city. Adapted from the popular webcomic series of the same name, Gigi D.G.'s Cucumber The Melody Kingdom is the third book of a clever, adorable, and hilarious four-volume heroic adventure that is sure to make you hungry for sweets and action.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 29, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
June 4, 2021
3.5 STARS
December 25, 2018
Just gets better and better!
June 30, 2022
Una vez más, maravillada por lo sorprendente, original, divertido y genial que resulta. In love con los personajes, su evolución, y con los giros argumentales que van surgiendo. Me va a dar mucha pena cuando termine.
P. D.: ¡Una maravilla la edición!
P. D.: ¡Una maravilla la edición!
October 4, 2025
My least favourite of the series even though there are still a lot of great parts!
The colour scheme for this one was just not my style and I felt like the narrative flow was a bit jumpy and hard to follow in parts.
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Re-read thoughts: dropping this to 3 stars because of all the things I mentioned in my original review.
The colour scheme for this one was just not my style and I felt like the narrative flow was a bit jumpy and hard to follow in parts.
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Re-read thoughts: dropping this to 3 stars because of all the things I mentioned in my original review.
July 5, 2019
I liked the attempt to do different things with colors and darkness. And the play of color and contrast was pretty cool. I’m pretty impressed by the art of Gigi D.G. But this one was a bit hard to follow at times.
October 31, 2024
For a middle grade novel I'm very impressed so I'm gonna give it a 4.75 to 85 stars.
It didn't hit completely cause I'm an adult but still, really good. The last book fell kinda flat for me, not as much action, I found it less funny, but this book does the exact opposite by bringing back everything I loved about the first book but in a way that feels a bit better? Since now we're actually in the series and we're on this quest, as opposed to the first book which obviously had to serve more as an introduction to a lot of things and have a lot of exposition. Either way, I really enjoyed this.
The humor was spot on and successfully made me laugh quite a few times, the art is dope as always, there was a really good ammount of action and the story even took a serious tone for a page or two there which was really pleasantly surprising. Can't wait to read the latest release and for more information come out
It didn't hit completely cause I'm an adult but still, really good. The last book fell kinda flat for me, not as much action, I found it less funny, but this book does the exact opposite by bringing back everything I loved about the first book but in a way that feels a bit better? Since now we're actually in the series and we're on this quest, as opposed to the first book which obviously had to serve more as an introduction to a lot of things and have a lot of exposition. Either way, I really enjoyed this.
The humor was spot on and successfully made me laugh quite a few times, the art is dope as always, there was a really good ammount of action and the story even took a serious tone for a page or two there which was really pleasantly surprising. Can't wait to read the latest release and for more information come out
March 16, 2021
Another brilliant read! Really enjoying Cucumber Quest and book 3 certainly didn’t disappoint. I enjoyed all the little quirks and humour in this story and how it revolved around Music. Cracks me up the questions and the characters answering random questions at the end of the book. Once again the illustrations are amazing! Can’t wait for the next book.
October 13, 2025
sáficas 🙂↕️🤚🏻
Read
August 30, 2020Fun, but also a bit confusing. The bad guys not being certain that they want to be bad guys sometimes leads to plot twists that are hard to understand.
April 13, 2019
😍😍😍😍😍
May 27, 2025
2022 EDIT: From my 'Cucumber Quest: The Doughnut Kingdom' review:
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
The best of the 'Cucumber Quest' volumes so far.
I don't know how it all works, it just does. 'The Melody Kingdom' is brilliant. Funny, clever, heartwarming, touching, and loud, silly and over-the-top without being obnoxious. The balance in tone and humour to go along with the storytelling is fantastic. So is the worldbuilding. Much effort and sincerity was put into this series.
There is Princess Piano - cool, regal and shy, but prone to screaming outbursts, and who is also hinted to be on the LBGTQ specter (she's like a music hall-themed Elsa); the mysterious Prince Crescendo, who inflicts on people one of the worst crimes imaginable: kidnapping them and forcing them to perform in his own Gary Stu fanfiction play; and Noisemaster and Mutemaster, the next minions to be defeated - at a concert and a rave!
Bacon the pig is fired from the guard trio and finds his calling as a beloved and talented actor. The return of Cosmo sees his most dangerous and hilarious scheme yet. Then, spontaneously heroic pizza people! Then a bonus issue about the return of the baker women Baguette and Tartelette.
And last but absolutely not least, the best bonding between the Nightmare Knight and Princess Parfait.
Every joke lands and flourishes. All is wonder and unpredictability. In a comic full of great moments, my favourite has to be the strange but lovely side-plot where Parfait and the Nightmare Knight are becoming friends, and not in a Stockholm Syndrome way. The development is well done, and I especially look forward to seeing how the so-called big bad lord of all evil Nightmare Knight will be handled. The parody is moving smoothly towards deconstruction territory now.
Every bond between certain characters, like Cucumber and Almond, and Cordelia and Peridot (and even Almond and Peridot), is sweet. There is an anti-bullying message in here as well.
One of the best lines, when Nautilus is ordering a pizza:
"Well, we're flying into the sun right now - is that going to be a problem?"
Final Score: 5/5
I'm clearing out some of my books, and I'm afraid I've decided to give this series away, especially since I've read in the author's blog posts that they won't be finishing 'Cucumber Quest', at least not for a while. No plans seem to have been made yet. No more paperback volumes are being published either. Oh well, 'Cucumber Quest' remains a funny, cute, subversive and heartwarming cartoony webcomic series, but I will no longer be continuing it.
Original Review:
The best of the 'Cucumber Quest' volumes so far.
I don't know how it all works, it just does. 'The Melody Kingdom' is brilliant. Funny, clever, heartwarming, touching, and loud, silly and over-the-top without being obnoxious. The balance in tone and humour to go along with the storytelling is fantastic. So is the worldbuilding. Much effort and sincerity was put into this series.
There is Princess Piano - cool, regal and shy, but prone to screaming outbursts, and who is also hinted to be on the LBGTQ specter (she's like a music hall-themed Elsa); the mysterious Prince Crescendo, who inflicts on people one of the worst crimes imaginable: kidnapping them and forcing them to perform in his own Gary Stu fanfiction play; and Noisemaster and Mutemaster, the next minions to be defeated - at a concert and a rave!
Bacon the pig is fired from the guard trio and finds his calling as a beloved and talented actor. The return of Cosmo sees his most dangerous and hilarious scheme yet. Then, spontaneously heroic pizza people! Then a bonus issue about the return of the baker women Baguette and Tartelette.
And last but absolutely not least, the best bonding between the Nightmare Knight and Princess Parfait.
Every joke lands and flourishes. All is wonder and unpredictability. In a comic full of great moments, my favourite has to be the strange but lovely side-plot where Parfait and the Nightmare Knight are becoming friends, and not in a Stockholm Syndrome way. The development is well done, and I especially look forward to seeing how the so-called big bad lord of all evil Nightmare Knight will be handled. The parody is moving smoothly towards deconstruction territory now.
Every bond between certain characters, like Cucumber and Almond, and Cordelia and Peridot (and even Almond and Peridot), is sweet. There is an anti-bullying message in here as well.
One of the best lines, when Nautilus is ordering a pizza:
"Well, we're flying into the sun right now - is that going to be a problem?"
Final Score: 5/5
May 15, 2018
Our heroes are still on their quest to save the land from evil. Their next stop is the Melody Kingdom, a land split in two when two brothers parted ways. Princess Piano is set to give a big concert, but she’s been kidnapped and our heroes have to rescue her and defeat the next big monster to continue on their quest.
I think this series will be much better once it is all out and you can read it in one fell swoop, because I am having trouble keeping characters straight with several months between parts of the story. And I think that’s just because by now there’s over a dozen characters to follow. That isn’t necessarily bad, it just makes it more challenging when you don’t have the previous books right at your fingertips. Their adventures still continue to be wildly imaginative and zany in all the best ways. I can see many just reading this for the artwork alone with all its vibrant cutesy-ness. Definitely lots of appeal for a rather broad age group. I can see middle graders snatching it up for the plot and teens or the artwork (and then they’ll get hooked on the plot too). I know I'll need to find out what happens to our heroes in the next adventure.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Some fantasy battles but it is unclear if anyone was really hurt as a result.
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think this series will be much better once it is all out and you can read it in one fell swoop, because I am having trouble keeping characters straight with several months between parts of the story. And I think that’s just because by now there’s over a dozen characters to follow. That isn’t necessarily bad, it just makes it more challenging when you don’t have the previous books right at your fingertips. Their adventures still continue to be wildly imaginative and zany in all the best ways. I can see many just reading this for the artwork alone with all its vibrant cutesy-ness. Definitely lots of appeal for a rather broad age group. I can see middle graders snatching it up for the plot and teens or the artwork (and then they’ll get hooked on the plot too). I know I'll need to find out what happens to our heroes in the next adventure.
Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Some fantasy battles but it is unclear if anyone was really hurt as a result.
I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
September 22, 2019
I read this book at school and I really liked it so I want to read the whole series
September 2, 2022
This isn't bad, it's really not. In comparison to the earlier to episodes however it's unclear and unsatisfying. It's a 2.5🌟 and it could go higher or lower depending on lasting impression.
August 18, 2022
Acompañados de la princesa Nautilus, Pepino y Almendra viajan al Reino de la Melodía para avisar del peligro que corren, y llegan justo a tiempo para el cumpleaños de la Reina Cimbal, que es interrumpido cuando Decibelion, el segundo Jefe de la Calamidad, aterriza en escena con todo su flow y su maldad; ¿podrán derrotarlo antes de que el reino estalle en pedazos o esta vez llegarán demasiado tarde?
Como siempre, lo primero que tengo que decir es que esta editorial se pasa con lo cuidadas que están todas sus ediciones: todos los libros suyos que he leído tienen un formato maravilloso (recomendadísimos sobre todo Rosa y En camino), ¡y este no es una excepción!
En cuanto a la historia, como siempre ha sido fantástica, me deja alucinada la gran originalidad que tiene Gigi para crear cada viñeta, que está llena de color y siempre acorde con la escena, y para hacer una hsitoria tan divertida como sorprendente: en ningún momento sabes lo que va a pasar a continuación porque en esta aventura no hay nadie al volante, ¡y nunca sabes por dónde va a salir cada personaje! Incluso hemos tenido un vistazo del gran villano... y puede que no sea como nosotros imaginábamos.
Por su parte, nuestros héroes me encantan, su forma de enfrentarse a los problemas, tan despreocupada y torpe, y lo mal organizados que están tanto ellos como los villanos... es una auténtica fantasía.
Reseña completa: http://fiebrelectora.blogspot.com/202...
Como siempre, lo primero que tengo que decir es que esta editorial se pasa con lo cuidadas que están todas sus ediciones: todos los libros suyos que he leído tienen un formato maravilloso (recomendadísimos sobre todo Rosa y En camino), ¡y este no es una excepción!
En cuanto a la historia, como siempre ha sido fantástica, me deja alucinada la gran originalidad que tiene Gigi para crear cada viñeta, que está llena de color y siempre acorde con la escena, y para hacer una hsitoria tan divertida como sorprendente: en ningún momento sabes lo que va a pasar a continuación porque en esta aventura no hay nadie al volante, ¡y nunca sabes por dónde va a salir cada personaje! Incluso hemos tenido un vistazo del gran villano... y puede que no sea como nosotros imaginábamos.
Por su parte, nuestros héroes me encantan, su forma de enfrentarse a los problemas, tan despreocupada y torpe, y lo mal organizados que están tanto ellos como los villanos... es una auténtica fantasía.
Reseña completa: http://fiebrelectora.blogspot.com/202...
August 19, 2020
This review may contain mild spoilers for the book. Please read with caution.
I received a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read a hardcover version after publication.
So the adventures of Cucumber and Co. continues! In this volume, our team of heroes explores the Melody Kingdom, encountering not one, but TWO Disaster Masters- Noisemaster and Mutemaster. I think these two are my favorite by far. Noisemaster is loud and grabs your attention, while Mutemaster works in silence. They are the primary evil in a volume switching to vibrant colors and fully dark pages. The color and art in this book is incredible, as always, but it really stood out to me in this volume.
It has been a little while since I read any part of the Cucumber Quest story, so there were times I had to pause and reference past volumes. I've realized I read them better back to back, and I would recommend other readers do the same. It isn't a story to power through, but I think it works better when you have it all available to read at once. (Plus, it's just a great story, so why wouldn't you want to read it all in a sitting??)
I received a digital copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I read a hardcover version after publication.
So the adventures of Cucumber and Co. continues! In this volume, our team of heroes explores the Melody Kingdom, encountering not one, but TWO Disaster Masters- Noisemaster and Mutemaster. I think these two are my favorite by far. Noisemaster is loud and grabs your attention, while Mutemaster works in silence. They are the primary evil in a volume switching to vibrant colors and fully dark pages. The color and art in this book is incredible, as always, but it really stood out to me in this volume.
It has been a little while since I read any part of the Cucumber Quest story, so there were times I had to pause and reference past volumes. I've realized I read them better back to back, and I would recommend other readers do the same. It isn't a story to power through, but I think it works better when you have it all available to read at once. (Plus, it's just a great story, so why wouldn't you want to read it all in a sitting??)
August 26, 2025
This volume felt a little rushed—well, more than usual, given the typical pace of the story. I’m not sure what Noisemaster and Mutemaster are scheming, but they’re as fun as Splashmaster. Their “defeat” was abrupt. What was that all about?
What is Nightmare Knight planning? He’s not the typical bad guy in this kind of fiction. I mean, which other bad guys can you stick your tongue out at and tease? I enjoyed his interaction with Princess Parfait.
And Cosmo, what the hell? I was not expecting that!
There’s only one more volume to go, and I’m unsure how things will wrap up. With so many side characters and background characters, and five kingdoms to go, how will everything get resolved in one last book?
Note: Using new rating system starting 2025.
September 3, 2018
Cucumber Quest continues to be amazing. Art, humor, story, characters - all superb. My only complaint with this volume (and likely with future volumes) is that they don't come out quickly enough. Each new volume needs to provide a refresher on previous adventures. Or I suppose I could just reread those earlier volumes, but I'm not made of time.
In any case, in this third volume, the gang travel to the Melody Kingdom to fight the Noisemaster. Chaos and cleverness ensure - a particular gem involves the villains defeating a massive wall. There's much more of the Nightmare Knight at home in this volume, providing crucial backstory to the villainous character. Bring on the Flower Kingdom or wherever our heroes go next.
In any case, in this third volume, the gang travel to the Melody Kingdom to fight the Noisemaster. Chaos and cleverness ensure - a particular gem involves the villains defeating a massive wall. There's much more of the Nightmare Knight at home in this volume, providing crucial backstory to the villainous character. Bring on the Flower Kingdom or wherever our heroes go next.
January 2, 2022
Cucumber and company travel to the Melody Kingdom to battle TWO disaster masters. As Cucumber continues to question the quest more information reveals that everything isn’t as simple as it seems.
The Melody Kingdom is full of the humor I’ve come to expect from Cucumber Quest; clever puns and laugh out loud antics make these graphic novels so much fun to read and reread. I’m consistently blown away by the use of color to set up scenes and characterization. In addition, in this volume the color in certain panels (amazingly!) conveys non-visual stimuli.
I hope Gigi D.G. knows that when/if she returns to this series that we are all waiting patiently and happily with the hilarious volumes she’s given us.
The Melody Kingdom is full of the humor I’ve come to expect from Cucumber Quest; clever puns and laugh out loud antics make these graphic novels so much fun to read and reread. I’m consistently blown away by the use of color to set up scenes and characterization. In addition, in this volume the color in certain panels (amazingly!) conveys non-visual stimuli.
I hope Gigi D.G. knows that when/if she returns to this series that we are all waiting patiently and happily with the hilarious volumes she’s given us.
April 27, 2018
I felt like the adventure in this one was a little all-over-the-place and I had a hard time following some of it - I had to go back and reread some passages. And I feel like it could have had more Cucumber, since it is his adventure afterall, although my love for Nautilus hasn't wavered. As a musician, I did enjoy Melody Kingdom and all the music puns - and the fact that the color of each character matched their instrumental name (Piano and Clarinet were black and white, Cymbal was gold, etc.) Fun!
And, wonderful surprise cameo by my all-time favorite Crabbro "bros call me bro" in the bonus story at the end!
And, wonderful surprise cameo by my all-time favorite Crabbro "bros call me bro" in the bonus story at the end!
September 15, 2019
In Cucumber Quest:Melody Kingdom(#3) From the Previous book Cucumber and Nautilus Found Almond,Queen conch and Sir Carrot and was able to get them back.Cucumber was later told to stop nightmare he would need for every Princess from each kingdom to sign the sword so he started his quest fro each princess to sign the sword. Recently While visiting the Melody Kingdom to get there sword signed Princess Piano got captured by Another one of Nightmares minions Noise Master. Now its up to Cucumber,Almond,Sir Carrots and Nautilus to stop Noise Master from destroying Melody Kingdom and to save Princess Piano.
June 10, 2018
This is still enjoyable but becoming bogged down with characters and subplots. Our heroes, Cucumber and Almond, are barely featured and cameos from characters in previous volumes leave you going "how do I know you?" rather than"wow". The art is still colorful and sweet but there has been a sudden shift in storytelling where our main group keeps getting bailed out by random bits of deus ex machina. The oddball humor and fast pace were the best part of Cucumber Quest and both of those have taken a backseat.
June 10, 2018
This series keeps getting better and better! I'm not sure that the villain of this volume, Noisemaker, was as hilarious as Splashmaster, but the side quests in this volume are amazing. From getting drafted into the worst play ever, to flying into the sun, finally seeing what Princess Nautilus' pizza spell can do, and enjoying the antics of Peridot, Nightmare Knight, and Cordelia, there is a lot to love here.
I'm still not exactly sure what is going down, both the Oracle and the Nightmare Knight seem pretty shifty, but I am really looking forward to volume 4.
I'm still not exactly sure what is going down, both the Oracle and the Nightmare Knight seem pretty shifty, but I am really looking forward to volume 4.
November 22, 2018
*I received a free review copy of this book from the publisher through my district library services*
I have not read the first two books, but I decided to read this one so I can give my students an honest opinion about starting partway through the series. I would not recommend it. I was a little confused. There are a LOT of characters and the thread of the story was a bit hard to follow, but the illustrations are very attractive and I'm sure fans of the series will want to read this to see how the story is developing.
I have not read the first two books, but I decided to read this one so I can give my students an honest opinion about starting partway through the series. I would not recommend it. I was a little confused. There are a LOT of characters and the thread of the story was a bit hard to follow, but the illustrations are very attractive and I'm sure fans of the series will want to read this to see how the story is developing.
June 5, 2019
Another beautiful, fun volume! I would have loved to slow down just a bit and spend more time in settings like Organetto and Trebleopolis, as I feel like I barely got a taste for them before it was time to move on. It would have also been nice to get to know Princess Piano better, especially since so much time has been spent with Princess Nautilus, but I sense that we haven't seen the last of Piano yet. In all, though, my critique comes from loving this world so much that I just want to spend more time in it--and in a way, that only adds to the five-star rating.
December 20, 2020
Okay, maybe I'm just a little slow on the uptake, but there were a few moments within this one that completely lost me. I'd go back and re-read and, nope, still confusing. I think by the end of the book I had a pretty decent idea of what had happened, though. I feel like the author's history of working in video games may have skewed the plot of this a bit (I think the storyline might have made more sense with some gameplay in there to move other parts along?), but it's still hard not to like these books, even when they jump a bit more than I think the typical reader will follow.
June 16, 2020
I skipped volume 2 by accident, but it didn't seem to matter much.
I'll be honest, for the first half I was ready to call it my last one of the series. I love the art of Cucumber Quest, but the rest seems too young for me... at least until the plot got more interesting later and I won't spoil why. So, I'm willing to go back to v.2 and then try out v.4 and see if it gets even better.
As a side note, the designs of the villains here are great!
I'll be honest, for the first half I was ready to call it my last one of the series. I love the art of Cucumber Quest, but the rest seems too young for me... at least until the plot got more interesting later and I won't spoil why. So, I'm willing to go back to v.2 and then try out v.4 and see if it gets even better.
As a side note, the designs of the villains here are great!
June 19, 2018
Still a fun story and some interesting character bits are slowly coming to light. The colors in some places are distracting and kind of hard on the eyes and mind (dark on dark etc) and sometimes the story felt too jumpy (but I guess that’s what you get with a bunch of rabbits?). I’ll continue to read them because they are fun and colorful and I’m curious to see where it goes.
October 9, 2020
So...I think the proper subtitle for this one is "Whiplash." Things happened so quickly, and there was so much going on, that I had a hell of a time keeping up. In the end of it, yeah there were some funny moments, yeah the art is still cute. But that doesn't make up for the lack of storytelling and sense of place/time. I really hope the next volume clears some things up.
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