Moan Mona’s Bleu Man and the Scarecrow’s Wicked Twig: Part Two continues an eccentric fantasy saga revolving around Bleu, a child who is prophesized to be the only person who can break the spell put on the realm by an egomaniacal sorcerer named Bo Top who wants to ultimately rule both the magical and mortal realms.
Here, as Bleu grows to adulthood, he overcomes more than a few near-death experiences. He also comes to realize that he’s no mere mortal: He’s the prince of the Unknown Land and legendary Dragonfly King destined to defeat the evil wizard and become the savior of two realms.
Although presenting a promising plot, as in the first book, sadly, this volume suffers from the same fatal flaws that laid low its predecessor: abundant punctuation errors, misspelled words, and improper sentence structure. The mistakes are so frequent that they make reading this novel a tedious, frustrating experience. The following excerpt—which contains numerous errors, particularly with commas and apostrophes — is indicative of the entire novel: “He had always known of Cookie. And believed the kings’ deceased son, to be his brother…And when showed a photo released, to the press after the princes’ abduction, still clung to this notion. Even though the boys bared no striking resemblance.”
Chapters 34 and 35 are identical, and some errors are inadvertently comical: “And loaded the cupboards and refrigerator with spoiled goods, that simply discussed his nose.”
The disappointment is intensified because underneath all of the blunders is a storyline with potential. Although the character development is superficial at best, the plot skeleton has some intriguing elements: a fantasy world inhabited by a diversity of mythical creatures (unicorns, dragons, vampires, etc.), interesting story twists, and a narrative that tonally would appeal to both young and adult readers.
But even if this tale were a towering masterwork, it’s hard to imagine any reader trudging through a novel overflowing with so many technical errors.
Also available as an ebook.
