Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Willamina Public Library | JF CLARK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library | YA FIC CLA | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Clark, P. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | J Fic Clark, P. 2013 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Newberg Public Library | TEEN CLARK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Sheridan Public Library | J Clark Bad Unicorn Tril v.1 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stayton Public Library | JF CLARK | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In this start to a hilarious middle-grade fantasy trilogy, Max Spencer discovers that a killer unicorn is hunting him.
It wasn't Max Spencer's idea to fight robots, lead an army, or save the world--it just so happens that he's the only living person who can read the most fantastical book ever written: The Codex of Infinite Knowability. The Codex is no ordinary book, and among other things, it describes a unicorn named Princess the Destroyer.
Princess the Destroyer is no ordinary unicorn. She loves nothing more than hunting down, killing, and eating other creatures. After all, what's the point of having a sharp horn on your forehead if you don't use it for destructive purposes? And right now Princess has a very definite purpose: Find Max and retrieve the lost Codex for an evil sorcerer and his mysterious master. If she can do that, she's been promised an all-the-humans-you-can-eat buffet in Texas.
Stuck in another world and with a carnivorous unicorn on his trail, Max must find the courage to save himself, his friends, and, oh yeah...the entire human race.
Author Notes
Platte Clark shares his first name with the midwestern Platte River, which he's been told means "wide and shallow." He nonetheless graduated cum laude with a BS in Philosophy and an MS in English, and lives with his wife and seven children in American Fork, Utah.
Reviews (4)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-This rollicking urban fantasy takes place in several different worlds, in several different time periods. Max Spencer is a middle school student in Smalltown, USA. He and his friend Dirk are appealing nerds who accidentally end up transporting themselves, their friend Sarah, and a magic-store owner/dwarf to their future world-a world populated by self-aware machines and ruled by the maniacal unicorn "Princess," who rose to power after wiping out the human race. Now Max needs to learn how to harness the Codex of Infinite Knowability in time to be the victor in a gladiator-style fight to the death while his friends train an army of frobbits to come to his aid, all in an effort to go back in time and save humanity. With a cast of lovable characters (even Princess is a lot of fun) and a fast-paced plot, this book is sure to please readers. Zombie ducks, frobbits, wisecracking daggers, and an intelligent arcade game from the '80s give this story a wonderfully eccentric flair reminiscent of Libba Bray's Going Bovine (Delacorte, 2009). A great addition to any library.-Sunnie Sette, New Haven Public Library, CT (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
Max Spencer is the unwitting descendant of a legendary sorcerer and the only person who can stop the ever-so-evil robotic unicorn, Princess the Destroyer, from pushing the human race into extinction. This satirical jaunt is filled with humorous creatures such as the merry frobbits and an amusing zombie duck, but serious fantasy fans may find Max's relationship to his powerful magic underdeveloped. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Harry Potter meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid in an initially witty debut that ultimately collapses. Seventh-grader Max Spencer isn't athletic, clever, brave or particularly kind, and he sure isn't popular. But he is the long-lost heir of the arch-sorcerer who created the Codex of Infinite Knowability, which only Max can read. Inaccessible in our magic-free dimension, the Codex's powerful spells are coveted by the mages of other realms; to retrieve it, they enlist the most vicious flesh-devouring monster known: Princess the Destroyer, the eponymous bad unicorn. The setup cleverly skewers common fantasy tropes, and delightfully gruesome vignettes of mayhem add extra spice. Though wildly uneven, the gags fly so rapidly that some are bound to provoke snickers. Unfortunately, Max has been rendered as such a convincing loser that it's hard to root for him as a hero; his friends are shallow clichs and offensive stereotypes, and the remaining characters are merely walking punch lines. Identifying target readers isn't easy; the protagonists' ages (and the proclivity for crude humor) suggest a middle school audience, who will be baffled by plot twists relying upon the mechanics of '80s-style arcade and tabletop games (let alone by the Al Gore jokes). The clunky, stilted prose is littered with $20 vocabulary. And when the many rambling discursions eventually converge to a genuinely gripping climax, too many storylines are simply dropped, apparently forgotten. Like a comedian repeating the same joke louder each time: at first funny, then annoying; finally, just sad. (Fantasy. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Middle-schooler Max Spencer has had the Codex of Infinite Knowability as long as he can remember. Jostling along on the school bus, he prepares to use the tome in his oral book report. He plans to read a section about unicorns, but when he stands before the class, what appears before his eyes is the chapter On Frobbits. Confused, Max begins to read, with no inkling that he and three friends are about to leap through time, fight the bad Princess Unicorn (now turned Robo-Princess), and destroy Machine City. In their adventures, the four encounter numerous weird beings and frightening situations. Max loses the Codex but gains the inner strength to get them home safely. If readers get past the prologue and first few chapters and can keep straight the numerous characters and story threads, they should be on board to finish out the escapades a good thing, seeing as how the ending seems to hint toward a sequel.--Petty, J. B. Copyright 2010 Booklist