Member Reviews
Carla J, Reviewer
I did not read the first book in Dr. Critchlore's School for Minions, but this was find to read as a standalone story. I would recommend that you start at the beginning though as I did miss some background that would have been helpful. Runt Higgins is running out of time. His sixteenth birthday is quickly approaching, so he is desperate to find out who put this curse on him and convince them to break it, so he won't die on his birthday. He hears whispers about The Great Library that has a lot of secret books, so he wants to find it to see if he can figure out who he is and how to break the curse. He enlists the help of his friends to locate the spies (secret librarians) who have been tasked with protecting the books with their knowledge and its location. There are other things happening, like missing professors, poison, a monster who might be a relative and Dr. Critchlore trying to save his school from being taken over by his nemesis.
I have to say that I loved the characters. We have humans mixed with so many mythical creatures and monsters from books and movies. Gorilla Tactics moved at a relatively quick pace with action, plot twists and adventure. There is some humour, think of monsters and creatures putting on a fashion show. I was interested to see who had cursed Runt and why. We get some answers, but not all of them. I enjoyed the mystery that Runt and his friends have to solve and how they go about it. I loved that libraries and librarians were an integral part of the story and how saving the knowledge was so important. I have to say that the illustrations were wonderful. I spent time really looking at the black and white images that were scattered throughout the story. I wish there had been a few more. The map at the beginning came in handy as Runt and his friends set off on their search. This was an imaginative story with a great plot and I definitely enjoyed this one. I recommend it to middle grade readers.
