Title: Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry
Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: Fantasy, sci-fi
Rating: 4 out of 5
Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry is seeing weird things around Los Angeles. A man who pops a tooth into a parking meter. A glowing trapdoor in a parking lot. A half-mechanical raccoon with its tail on fire that just won’t leave him alone. Every hallucinatory moment seems plucked from a cheesy 1990s fantasy TV show called Max’s Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are.
Not a good sign.
In the blurry weeks after his mother’s death, a young Leopold discovered VHS tapes of its one and only season in a box headed for the trash—and soon became obsessed. Losing himself in Sunder was the best way to avoid two things: grieving his mother and being a chronic disappointment to his overbearing father. But when the strange visions return—at the worst possible time on the worst possible day—Leopold turns to his best friend Emmet for help. Together they discover that Sunder is much more than just an old TV show, and that Los Angeles is far stranger than they ever imagined. And soon, he’ll realize that not only is Sunderworld real, but it’s in grave danger.
Certain he’s finally been chosen for greatness, Leopold risks everything to claim his destiny, save the world of his childhood dreams, and prove once and for all that he’s not the disappointment his father believes him to be. But when everything goes terribly, horribly, excruciatingly wrong, Leopold’s disappointments prove to be more extraordinary than he ever could have imagined.
How do you battle darkness when no one believes in you—not even yourself?
Welcome to Sunderworld.
I found this to be a fun read! I felt kind of like the movie Labyrinth—which, yes, I did love—campy, fun, with a touch of magic. Was it totally believable? No, but that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the read. This was a quick read, entertaining, and didn’t require a lot of brain power to follow. I recommend it for a fun weekend read, and I look forward to reading more in this world.
Ransom Riggs lives in L.A. Sunderworld, Vol. I: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry is the first book in the Sunderworld series.
(Galley courtesy of PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group | Dutton Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review.)
Tomorrow Is Another Day 