If Goodreads gave half stars, this would be a two and half star read for me, right in the middle.
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The fact that I had to add the book to Goodreads myself kind of says a bit already I think.

I will admit that I left this book on my Netgalley shelf for such a long time that it archived without me even downloading any copy so I proceeded to get the audiobook of it to fly through it quickly. Props to the narrator Geoffrey Breton, I enjoyed his flow and character work.
But the plot itself felt very meh to me. I thought Victor would be the main hero so to speak, defeating the 'bad guy' in the end with his new found friends, maybe them becoming inventors in their own right to save the day, but <spoiler> it ended up being two other characters, the two inventors (the bad one and the good one) facing off against an even bigger bad Inventor character. </spoiler>

This story had such potential, I loved the Iron Plague, the thinking behind each village and the people and even the collectors themselves had such an eeriness to them that I really enjoyed but the story went from slow to swift to rushed. When I listened to the final chapters, I was so confused as to what was happening. <spoiler> The way the two armies just faced off for 3 days with no fighting, the kids just chilling in the room, then how they actually used the 'bad' inventions such as the mirror etc. to trick the collectors is kind of unbelievable, even in this fantasy setting. </spoiler>

Maybe this book was just not for me, but I look forward to others reviewing it and seeing their thoughts.

Thank you to Hachette's Childrens Books and Netgalley for an early eArc of the book

A travelling adventure and journey for a mix of children. It comes to a sole child from the villages to find each other, work together and bring together their families. They all have similar stories of being bamboozled by a travelling salesman and being left to fend for themselves while the grownups have fallen prey to his latest tricks, A journey to search for the man and the cures for their people takes on a dangerous tone as they must defeat an army, find their ways together and survive!
Almost a cautionary tale of the importance of the next generation, with strong messages of teamwork, collaboration as well as fairness and equality.
Thrilling, dangerous and exciting, this is a brilliant book to read aloud to a class.

My son’s favourite character was definitely saint Oswald the tortoise! Especially when he found out about the explosive poo!

The story was great and funny and had a really good, moral to it like an old fashioned fable.

As a parent I loved this book for the characters and the message. My son felt it was a bit slow in places but overall enjoyed the story and was laughing out loud several times.

Who is The Greatest Inventor and what have they invented?

Victor has never left his home village and due to a curse on the village he is forced to leave to find a cure. Along the way he finds other villages that are cursed and new friends to help him on his journey to find out the truth.

I found the characters very believable and well thought out. The plot was good and made me think about what the important things in life are and where to find them.