Review for "Irving Wishbutton & the Questing Academy" by Brian Clopper

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Irving Wishbutton and the Questing Academy by Brian Clopper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I really, really, REALLY enjoyed this book… until I got to the end and realized it was a cliffhanger and there was no resolution. It was SO GOOD. Now, I’m super upset & here’s why…

Plot: What a unique and fascinating story premise: a school for W.I.P. characters. Sure, the boarding school idea has been used plenty of times (H.P. anyone?), but that’s pretty much the only obvious similarity. The rest is (for me, at least) refreshing and exciting and believable and new.

Characters: I loved Irving- really. I loved seeing him develop as his writer tries to create Irving’s story. He’s supposed to be a hero but he’s kind of a putz and only accidentally does he occasionally do something heroic/get things “right”. He’s flawed, but hey, that’s cause he’s not fully developed yet; just like the rest of the characters at the Questing Academy… clever really, of the Real Author (Clopper) to have this “excuse” for flawed and/or under-developed characters. I personally think it’s genius and wish I’d thought of it.

The Writing: Switches from 3rd person POV (Irving’s author, present-day, real-world with real-world situations that inspire his creative experience) and 1st person POV (Irving Wishbutton, a student newly arrived at the “mysterious” Questing Academy) seamlessly and reads like butter. Writing style alone would merit 5 stars.

In Case You Wanted to Know: There’s nothing extreme or unfriendly in this book that needs any forewarning, with the one exception THAT THE ONLY (SUB) PLOT RESOLVED is Irving getting fleshed out!!! Everything else you “think” you’ll get an answer to- you don’t. Sorry, that should’ve come with a “spoiler alert”, but see how mad you are now? Glad I could share my ire.

Overall: 50-100 more pages and this book would’ve gone from exposition/world building to an actual finished product. But, at 290 pages, all of the beautiful & imaginative details of Irving’s world are for nothing because I’m too disappointed at being left hanging to even bother reading the next three books in the series, regardless of how much I LOVED the whole damn thing up 'til the “end”.


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