The Book of Three

Please Don’t Hurt Me.

I kinda hope that the literary community doesn’t kill me for only giving this three stars. But let’s be honest: I’ve probably been rating things too high all along. And I have reasons for rating this one lower.

The Book of Three was entertaining. I liked the main character, and thought that the story was brilliant in its sheer simplicity. It was a really basic hero cycle, except that the reason he left his home was because he was chasing a magic pig. However, on a side note, I would say that any pig is magical, because BACON! But I digress.

While the hero cycle is all fine and dandy, I personally tend to like a little more meat on those bones. But…not so. Again, before the internet verbally (or textually) abuses me, I understand that it’s juvenile lit. I’m not saying that it’s a bad story. Just a little light. That makes it perfect for even seven to eight year olds to pick up and enjoy, which is great.

Despite the relative lightness of the contents, the main thing that bothered me was the cast of characters. Each one of them seemed less a character and more a caricature of what a person actually does and says. This doesn’t usually bother me if it’s a fairly isolated thing or if it’s just one of the characters. But it’s all of them. It wasn’t noticeable at first, but started feeling like a stumbling block as the story progressed.

The thing that really sets this audiobook apart is the performance. James Langton does an absolutely fantastic job at differentiating character through accent, style of speech and even little things like how strongly they pronounce certain sounds. If for nothing else, this recording is valuable for the simple fact that it can overcome any inherent weaknesses (or things that bug you) so you can still have an enjoyable time listening. This is certainly something that I can see my wife and I listening to with our kids on a long road trip. And since it’s only about five and a half hours, we will probably listen to the next one, too.

With everything that I’ve said, you probably think that I didn’t like the book. On the contrary, I enjoyed the escapism and new ideas that the book brought to my own literary culture. I’ve been told that the story really starts to pick up after this book, so I’m excited to move on to The Black Cauldron. If indeed the story does improve after this, I will just figure that this one is a quick introduction to the world.