Magnus Opum by Jonathan Gould

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Do you ever get one of those moments when you want to lose yourself in a book that is totally magical, brimming with imagination and fantasy, and entertaining from start to finish? This book by the very talented Jonathan Gould is the very thing that delivers on all counts.

I actually read it twice and was doubly captivated, doubly enthralled and doubly awed by this author’s incredible imagination. I loved it.

Magnus Mandelora’s brother Jangos gets an attack of the dreaded Grompets – a desire to see more of the world outside the quiet, dozy little village in which they live. Unfortunately for Magnus, fate decrees that he too has to leave his comfortable little kertottage in search of justice and revenge. His eventful journey takes him across weird and wonderful lands and he experiences adventures he never thought possible. Along the way, he meets all sorts of . . . beings . . . some of them foes, but some of them companions who become firm friends.

When you have a story with diperagoffs, truffelongs, frazzletoads, gleeprogs, lothfarines, how can you keep a smile from your face? When a character has three ears and a long nose (to stick into other people’s business), or only one hair that grows half an inch every ten years, or has to walk around with a bowl of water on its head, how can you not be anything but charmed and enchanted?

This is Jonathan’s first full-length novel after two short stories (Doodling and Flidderbugs). He brings to it as much talent, aptitude, and ingenuity.

I can think of only one way to describe this book. In the words of our valiant hero, Magnus, it’s nothing short of “beautifagnificextraordimazing”.