Books: Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death By Thomas Lennon (2020)

 

"Ronan Boyle may be the youngest and lowliest recruit to the secret Garda, but he’s determined to save his captain from the harpy that dragged her into Tir Na Nog at the end of book one. He may not be the strongest, or the smartest, or the best looking, or the most dexterous . . . so why was he picked for this mission? He’s not entirely sure. But he may be the captain’s only hope—if he can escape man-eating elves, escape a job in a unicorn’s lounge act, and find the captain before she’s sacrificed to a spooky cult trying to resurrect its leader. Eventually Ronan must battle the scariest monster of all: impostor syndrome."

 

While a slightly slower-paced tale than the first book, I still enjoyed this adventure with Ronan Boyle. Much like the first book, there is a mix of action and humor (there is plenty of fart jokes and other pubescent humor to amuse middle-school boys), but Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death emphatically draws more heavily from the Harry Potter playbook than the first book –which can be distracting. The footnotes were great and some of Lennon’s other humor is seemly directed at adults (and I’m not sure many middle school boys and girls know who Judi Dench is) who are either reading it on their own or to their kids which was another distracting thing.

 

Again, actor Thomas Lennon borrows many themes from Rowling, while trying to write in the style of Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and even Neil Gaiman. He succeeds most of time here, as his characters do grow –especially Ronan. I do think boys will enjoy this series more than girls, even though it contains many strong female characters (Log is wonderful creation). Who knows, really?

 

I assume there will be at least one more book, though we get less of a set-up than the first book.

Books: Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles by Thomas Lennon (2019)

“Fourteen-year-old Ronan Boyle is the youngest and lowliest recruit to the secret Garda, an Irish police force that handles the misdeeds of numerous magical creatures. Ronan’s parents are in jail, but Ronan is convinced that they were framed by the wee people. So, despite his small size, poor eyesight, and social awkwardness, he’s determined to learn all he can in the Garda in order to prove his parents’ innocence. To show he’s got what it takes, he’ll have to confront a fiery leprechaun, a sinister harpy, and a whole world of monsters hidden in plain sight next to real-life Ireland.”

In an age of Harry Potter knock-offs, actor/screenwriter and first time novelist Thomas Lennon gives us a delightfully weird, funny, oddly charming fantasy novel that resembles the legendary wizard boys series, but never fully becomes embolden to it (I was also reminded of Piers Anthony’s Xanth series at times). This fantasy genre does have limitations, so it’s nice when someone comes along and can give us variation on a theme, but is able to build on it, as well.

I loved the idea that leprechauns are drunkin-addled creatures who are, basically, rotten-to-the-core and will do anything and everything to make their lives better at the expense of others. While Lennon takes on the traditional mythology of these Irish wee-folk, he adds a bit sinister aspects as well -who knew that sub-genre of crime thrillers involving leprechauns would be so fun and interesting? There is a lot of slapstick, some spookiness, and some chaos to go along with some potty-humor and some deliberately designed gross-out passages to amuse the kids.

All of that leads up to a cliffhanger ending, which was a surprise and means I’m reading another series of kids books.