Reviewed by Rebecca Wells for TeensReadToo.com
Jo Larouche has always been ordinary - or as ordinary as you can be when you live in a ruby palace with a highly eccentric retired movie star for an aunt. Though she was found in her aunt Lily's laundry room with a note detailing her as a dangerous baby, Jo has been for all of her thirteen years just about as dangerous as a glass of milk.
Things begin to change when strange events at Lily's Christmas party contrive to send Jo and Lily out of California and into a fantastical land called Eldritch City, where they are taken in by the Order of Odd-Fish, an eclectic collection of knights devoted entirely to the research of useless information. But that's just the beginning, for as Jo finds a new place for herself in Eldritch City, she also becomes entangled in a dangerous game with the Belgian Prankster, a villain who appears to be seeking the downfall of the city Jo has begun to call home.
A rollicking adventure for all ages, THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH has something for every lover of all things ridiculous. From obtuse and elaborate dueling rituals to cockroach butlers obsessed with seeking fame to a villain so sinister he can even make balloon animals terrifying, James Kennedy piles on oddities so fast that you can't help but dive in, and enjoy the stay.
Jo Larouche has always been ordinary - or as ordinary as you can be when you live in a ruby palace with a highly eccentric retired movie star for an aunt. Though she was found in her aunt Lily's laundry room with a note detailing her as a dangerous baby, Jo has been for all of her thirteen years just about as dangerous as a glass of milk.
Things begin to change when strange events at Lily's Christmas party contrive to send Jo and Lily out of California and into a fantastical land called Eldritch City, where they are taken in by the Order of Odd-Fish, an eclectic collection of knights devoted entirely to the research of useless information. But that's just the beginning, for as Jo finds a new place for herself in Eldritch City, she also becomes entangled in a dangerous game with the Belgian Prankster, a villain who appears to be seeking the downfall of the city Jo has begun to call home.
A rollicking adventure for all ages, THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH has something for every lover of all things ridiculous. From obtuse and elaborate dueling rituals to cockroach butlers obsessed with seeking fame to a villain so sinister he can even make balloon animals terrifying, James Kennedy piles on oddities so fast that you can't help but dive in, and enjoy the stay.
