Hotmail Tech Support Number

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Monday, 26 September 2011

SPL Shelf Life [adult]

Posted on 12:23 by Unknown
This review appeared in The Stratford Gazette on September 22nd. Written by Robyn Godfrey, Librarian



Agatha Heterodyne and the Beetleburg Clank, by Phil & Kaja Foglio
@SPL: GN FIC Fogli

The above title may seem a bit long, but that’s nothing to its subtitle, “A Gaslamp Fantasy with Adventure, Romance and Mad Science”. It is the first of a ten-part graphic novel series called “Girl Genius” (Stratford Library has parts 1 through 9, number 10 is on its way), by the award-winning husband-wife team of Phil and Kaja Foglio; the Girl Genius series is regularly on the Best Adult Books for High School Students list from School Library Journal. After having read the entire series (and eagerly awaiting number ten), I can vouch that it is everything the subtitle states: a stylish, sprawling, steampunk adventure, with emphasis on the mad science (mostly the building of cogs-and-wheels devices of mass destruction) and the odd hint of romance thrown in for good measure. 
What I loved about this series is the humour - in particular a threesome of characters called the Jagermonsters who are an intriguing combination of brains and brawn, adorable and creepy - and always strangely witty in their brotherly-rivalry banter. Their job is to protect Agatha Heterodyne (and her talking cat), the last in a long line of powerful mad geniuses capable of singel-handedly building said machines, or 'clanks' of mass destruction and marvel. In an attempt to regain her heritage, she must escape a mad barron and his genuis son (who has a thing for Agatha), get to Mechanicsburg, where the Heterodyne castle waits for the true heir to repair it. Yes, the castle is alive (in a manner of speaking), and deadly. Along the way Agatha meets up with a troupe of travelling actors and becomes one of their strange family, gets possessed by the spirit of her crazed mother, battles a false Heterodyne heirs and a couple of sentient clanks who are out to destroy her, all the while without breaking her big Harry-Potter glasses. 
Beyond belief, to state the obvious, but it is an excellent adventure story, the illustrations are brilliant, the characters expressive and the humour is so sharp you could cut yourself laughing. And if graphic novels are not your thing, there is a full-size novel about Agatha's adventures, called "Agatha H. and the Airship City" to satisfy - and SPL has that one too. 
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in shelf life adult | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Family Day
  • French resources for you and your family
    Last night, the Stratford chapter of Canadian Parents for French hosted a Parents Success Night at the Falstaff Early Years Centre. There w...
  • The Best Science Fiction & Fantasty
     Image from the NPR    The  National Public Radio has released their list of the top 100 science-fiction, fantasy bo...
  • Blind Date With A Book and CBC Radio 1
    Two weeks of fun, Under-the-Covers! February 14-28 Come into the library to meet your match! We’ve selected some hidden gems from our collec...
  • Shelf Life [adult]
    Leaving Everything Most Loved b y Jacqueline Winspear @SPL: FIC Winsp Maisie Dobbs has come a long way from her start as a kitchen maid in...
  • Shelf Life [kids]
    The Tree that Bear Climbed  by Marianne Berkes, 32 pages. @ SPL:  JP Berke There are many parts to a tree, and all of them have a role to pl...
  • downloadLibrary and the Windows Phone
    Good news for Windows Phone users! There is now an Overdrive Media Console App for your phone too! This new app will allow users of download...
  • Library is a kind of paradise
    [ source ]
  • Shelf Life [kids]
    Wild Colt by Lois Szymanski, 40 pages. @ SPL:  JP Szyma      Full-page pictures created in oil paint bring to life a beautiful new children’...
  • Send Us Your Flower Photos!
    I don't know about you but I'm ready to see some flowers shoot up from beneath the snow and slush. March 20th is the first day of Sp...

Categories

  • 2.0
  • about spl
  • awards
  • BiblioCommons
  • book sale
  • books
  • CLA
  • Cloud computing
  • contest
  • culture days
  • Cyberbullying
  • databases
  • downloadlibrary
  • DVD
  • ebooks
  • education
  • email
  • employment
  • events
  • Evergreen™ Award
  • Evergreen™ Featured Title
  • facebook
  • finance
  • french
  • Friends
  • Friends of the library
  • fundraising
  • get connected
  • Google maps
  • health
  • helpful links
  • hotmail
  • Image Quest
  • intelligent community
  • kids
  • Lego
  • Library Board
  • Library Foundation
  • library life
  • literacy
  • local
  • magazines
  • March Break
  • movies
  • OPLW
  • Paralympics
  • PCIN
  • penny drive
  • Pinterest
  • PLOW
  • poetry
  • Reading
  • school life
  • shelf life adult
  • shelf life kids
  • strategic plan
  • Stratford
  • Summer 2011
  • Tagging
  • tdsummerreading
  • technology
  • teen
  • travel
  • volunteers
  • Waterloo lectures
  • website

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (133)
    • ►  October (9)
    • ►  September (11)
    • ►  August (16)
    • ►  July (16)
    • ►  June (16)
    • ►  May (14)
    • ►  April (11)
    • ►  March (16)
    • ►  February (13)
    • ►  January (11)
  • ►  2012 (195)
    • ►  December (12)
    • ►  November (14)
    • ►  October (16)
    • ►  September (12)
    • ►  August (16)
    • ►  July (14)
    • ►  June (14)
    • ►  May (17)
    • ►  April (14)
    • ►  March (23)
    • ►  February (18)
    • ►  January (25)
  • ▼  2011 (172)
    • ►  December (20)
    • ►  November (16)
    • ►  October (26)
    • ▼  September (22)
      • SPL Shelf Life [adult]
      • Get Connected!
      • SPL Shelf Life [kids]
      • Handmade Culture & Culture Days
      • Thursdays at Noon
      • Happy Birthday...
      • SPL Shelf Life [adult]
      • SPL Shelf Life [kids]
      • Is Facebook charging?
      • Human Library is back for Culture Days
      • SPL Shelf Life [kids]
      • SPL Shelf Life [adult]
      • Waterloo Lectures Are Back!
      • Poetry Stratford Fall Line Up
      • My Reading History
      • SPL Shelf Life [kids]
      • SPL Shelf Life [adult]
      • Everyone has a story...
      • Argh... Science.
      • Whale of a Tale
      • SPL Shelf Life [kids]
      • SPL Shelf Life [adult]
    • ►  August (20)
    • ►  July (20)
    • ►  June (24)
    • ►  May (20)
    • ►  April (4)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile