Friday, July 30, 2010

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp (Rick Yancey)

Summary:
Alfred Kropp is a fifteen year old hulk of a boy, whose mother died, and whose father left very early in his life. Alfred never even knew him. Alfred lives with his Uncle Farrell, who works as a security guard in Samson Towers. One day, Uncle Farrell is approached and asked to steal a sword from Bernard Samson's office. Uncle Farrell, in turn, says that Alfred has to help him steal the sword, or he'll send Alfred back to foster care. Given no other choice, Alfred goes along with it, only to learn that the man wanting the sword is evil, and the sword is really the Sword of Kings, Excalibur. Alfred feels horrible about the theft, and decides to do everything he can to get the Sword back to its rightful place. Along the way, he learns more and more about the legends and history of King Arthur, and his Knights.

Thoughts:
Wonderful! I'm definitely planning to get the rest of the series. Some of the plot twists were easy to see coming, but the writing was fantastic. It was one of those can't-put-it-down kind of books. This, like the Percy Jackson book from earlier this year, was one that I never looked to see how many pages I had left. It was engaging. At every turn, I felt more and more awful for Alfred, and was rooting for him more and more. Great stuff. The worst part was the end, because I couldn't get another dose of story until I get the next book!

Pages: 339
Genre: Fantasy/mystery
Grade: A+
Would I Recommend?: Absolutely.

33 down, 17 to go!

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