Quick Review: Doc Wilde & The Frogs of Doom
So, I replaced Tim Byrd's hardcover of Spirit of the Century when it fell apart, and in return he sent me a copy of his kids' book, Doc Wilde and The Frogs of Doom. This is me doing a super brief review of it.
This is the book that answers the question, "If Doc Savage had a kid, and his kid had kids, would that all add up to a family full of awesome, hypercompetent people?" The answer is, yes, yes it would.
While set in the modern day, this book LOVES pulp (and Lovecraft, for that matter) and makes a bunch of oblique and not so oblique references to it throughout. It's a breezy, very fast read for an adult, but an adult will be entertained precisely because of those references. It's like a fast mad dash through a landscape littered with mines that explode with geek-love every now and again.
To summarize the plot would be to tell the story of the whole book, so I'm going to leave that out of this. :) It's a fun family romp, has good life lessons for kids, and features a boy child and a girl child who both compete with each other and value each other. A "Momma Wilde" is a bit conspicuously absent (without explanation, I think), but Grandma Wilde shows up at one point and knows her stuff, too. And if you're looking to get your kids primed with some excitement about high-pulp adventure (before, say, running a SOTC game for them), I think Doc Wilde would be a handy tool for giving that to 'em.
Check it out.
This is the book that answers the question, "If Doc Savage had a kid, and his kid had kids, would that all add up to a family full of awesome, hypercompetent people?" The answer is, yes, yes it would.
While set in the modern day, this book LOVES pulp (and Lovecraft, for that matter) and makes a bunch of oblique and not so oblique references to it throughout. It's a breezy, very fast read for an adult, but an adult will be entertained precisely because of those references. It's like a fast mad dash through a landscape littered with mines that explode with geek-love every now and again.
To summarize the plot would be to tell the story of the whole book, so I'm going to leave that out of this. :) It's a fun family romp, has good life lessons for kids, and features a boy child and a girl child who both compete with each other and value each other. A "Momma Wilde" is a bit conspicuously absent (without explanation, I think), but Grandma Wilde shows up at one point and knows her stuff, too. And if you're looking to get your kids primed with some excitement about high-pulp adventure (before, say, running a SOTC game for them), I think Doc Wilde would be a handy tool for giving that to 'em.
Check it out.