The Legend of Rah & the Muggles

The Legend of Rah & the Muggles

by N.K. Stouffer

Blurb:

In another land far from the shoreline of Aura, war was raging, and Lady Catherine launched a raft with precious cargo aboard, her two infant sons. She wrapped the boys in royal blankets and quilts, and packed a jewel box filled with bright rubies and other gemstones between them. The raft drifted away with no charted destination but the babies' survival.

My Reaction:
Yet another 372-Pages read, shared with Donald, as usual.  

I'm updating my reading blog after four months or so, and I had almost forgotten this one.  How is that even possible?  

Top three things I remember about this book:

1.  You'll get whiplash from the stylistic changes in the beginning of the book.  It starts by recounting a nuclear war that causes (part of) the human race to mutate into a new species, then it turns into a wanna-be Harlequin romance, and then it morphs into a children's fairy-tale fantasy.  All within the first few chapters, if I recall correctly.  (It wanders off into something else later on, but I'll leave that for others to describe...)

2.  So many elements of the story are left hanging.  Zero payoff.  Highly annoying!  

3.  Do you vaguely remember that someone accused J.K. Rowling of plagiarizing her work with the Harry Potter series?  This is that book/author.  It's all absolute nonsense.  

Bonus thing I remember about this book:  There's a song, complete with lyrics and sheet music (though apparently it's as poorly composed as the rest of the book).  Some listeners recorded themselves playing or singing this song, and it still pops into my head from time to time, several weeks later.  Send help. 

Bridge to Bat City

Bridge to Bat City

by Ernest Cline

Blurb:

After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal B. Flats moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, she bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’ cave is destroyed by a big mining company with its sights set on the farmland next.

If Opal and the bats can fit in anywhere, it’s the nearby city of Austin, home to their favorite music and a host of wonderfully eccentric characters. But with people afraid of the bats and determined to get rid of them, it’ll take a whole lot of courage to prove that this is where the bats—and Opal—belong.

My Reaction:
Donald and I read this one together for the 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast.  

This is one mystifying novel.  I mean, just who was it written for?  It's marketed for "middle grade" readers, i.e. kids aged 8-12, and for the most part, it feels like it's written at that level of complexity—though to be honest, I'm not sure the language has been simplified all that much in comparison with RPO and the author's other novels.  

But on the other hand, so much of the novel is just an excuse to shoe-horn in as many 80s(-ish)-era Austin, Texas "notables" as possible. (In many cases, these people seem to be merely Austin-adjacent.)  Essentially, the subject matter is just nothing that a typical modern child would ever care about.  Heck, I'm in my mid-40s, and I didn't recognize probably half of these so-called celebrities.  

Even if these people (mostly musicians and bands) making cameo appearances had been someone a 9-year-old reading in 2024 would immediately be able to identify, so what?  Reading vague, repetitive descriptions of people (and melomaniac bats!) listening—excuse me, grooving—to music is just not very engaging or entertaining.  

Music is meant to be listened to, darn it!  It would take a more talented writer than this to make it enjoyable to read about a single concert attendance, never mind the numerous gigs presented back to back in this book.  (What in the world was the author thinking?!)

There are other problems with this book I could go into, but why bother?  It's not an entertaining read for an adult, and I can't imagine many of the intended audience will love it, either.  I guess it was just a desperate attempt to make some money based on the author's name recognition.

The Starlight Barking

The Starlight Barking

by Dodie Smith

Blurb:

Dodie Smith's The Hundred and One Dalmatians, later adapted by Disney, was declared a classic when first published in 1956. The Starlight Barking, Dodie's own long-forgotten sequel, is a thrilling new adventure for Pongo and his family, lavishly illustrated by the same artist team as the first book. As the story opens, every living creature except dogs is gripped by an enchanted sleep. One of the original Dalmatian puppies, all grown up since the first novel, is now the Prime Minister's mascot. Relying on her spotted parents for guidance, she assumes emergency leadership for the canine population of England. Awaiting advice from Sirius, the Dog Star, dogs of every breed crowd Trafalgar Square to watch the evening skies. The message they receive is a disturbing proposition, one that might forever destroy their status as "man's best friend."

My Reaction:

(This was another 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back read with Donald.)

It's been decades since I've seen Disney's adaptation of the first book, and I've never read it (though I have read I Capture the Castle multiple times, and seen the film version).  I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I certainly wasn't expecting this.  It's... Well, it's just weird.  

It's impossible to say how I'd have felt about this as a member of its target audience—that is, a child, or at least someone who had read and loved the first book as a child.  Would I have found it charming or dull?  As an adult, I found there were a few oddities that stuck out (such as the strange bits about the different dog breeds and the importance of maintaining breed standards), but for the most part it was simply a bit boring.  Some elements were rather dark for children, too (thinking specifically of Sirius' motivation for whisking all the dogs away from Earth, which is a spoiler, but... Eh, I don't think it'll be a problem!)

It's a strange book, to say the least.  

 

I didn't know much about Dodie Smith's life before starting this, and was surprised to learn that she and her husband moved to live in the U.S. during WWII, because he was a conscientious objector.  That's interesting, given some of the jokes made on the 372-Pages podcast.  

I hardly know how to rate this one.  Personally, I didn't enjoy the book.