Muddle Earth [Kindle Edition]

Paul Stewart (Author), Chris Riddell (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The fertile partnership of Stewart and Riddell (The Edge Chronicles) has produced a fine canon of Monty Python-esque fantasy nonsense, but the silliness is taken to new heights in this charming comedy. Randalf the Wise, the only wizard in Muddle Earth, casts a spell to conjure a warrior hero and, not being a particularly gifted wizard, ends up summoning young Joe Jefferson and his dog. Along with his sarcastic budgie, Veronica, and cowardly troll, Norbert the Not-Very-Big, Randolph brings Joe to Muddle Earth's ruler, the Horned Baron, who hires the boy to defeat the ogre Engelbert the Enormous. Engelbert is upset, because his beloved snuggly-wuggly has gone missing, and Joe's gentle touch and quick thinking save the day. Unfortunately, the spell that Randalf needs to send Joe back home is in the hands of the evil Dr. Cuddles, a criminal mastermind who lives in an adorable little cottage in Giggle Glade. From there things become even sillier, with sentient silverware, a kidnapped queen no one wants to rescue and a vicious-looking dragon who turns out to be perfectly nice. Stewart's plotting and dialogue are squarely in the anything-can-happen realm of Douglas Adams; Riddell's pen-and-ink illustrations are perfectly suited to the tone of the book. This is a big, goofy, laugh-out-loud delight. Ages 10-up. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4–6—One minute young Joe Jefferson is trying to figure out what to write for his English assignment, "My Amazing Adventure," and the next thing he knows both he and his dog have been pulled into the world of Muddle Earth by the incompetent magician Randalf the Wise. Joe has been summoned to be the official warrior-hero of the realm, and that means going head-to-head with malicious Dr. Cuddles. Cuddles, it seems, has captured all of the local wizards and is forcing them to do his evil bidding. It's up to our hero and his ragtag team of new friends to defeat the villain and free the wizards before Cuddles has a chance to conquer Muddle Earth. Bathroom humor and potty jokes abound in this tepid tale. Rather than a straight out-and-out parody of Tolkien's stories of Middle Earth (which might have been preferable), Stewart's tale references those stories rarely, if ever. The whole enterprise feels more like an excuse to try out some random fantasy tropes without ever using them in an inventive fashion. In short, the madcap adventures and humorous moments could stand to be a lot more madcap and humorous.—Elizabeth Bird, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 5595 KB
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (December 24, 2008)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B001ODEQFM
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,229 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Paul Stewart is the co-creator of the bestselling Edge Chronicles series, with Chris Riddell. He is also the author of a number of previous titles for children including The Wakening.

Talking to Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell about the Edge Chronicles

Q. What was your inspiration for The Edge Chronicles?
Paul: The Edge Chronicles started off with the map. Chris drew it and gave it to me saying, 'here is the world, tell me what happens there.'
Chris: I drew a map that looked like the edge of a map because I've always been fascinated by the edges of maps - the place where the known world ends.
Paul: My main inspiration for the Deepwoods was perhaps the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, though other books-Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Gormenghast, Gulliver's Travels- also played their part.
Q: What was your favorite character(s) to create?
Chris: My favorite character is the spindlebug. It was easy for Paul to write that it was see-through, like glass, but a challenge for an illustrator to draw. The creatures live an immense amount of time-up to four centuries -which means that they witness a lot more history of the Edge than other characters.
Paul: My favorite characters are the banderbears. Chris drew them first as fierce, pyramid-like bear creatures. Because they looked so ferocious, I made their character more timid. We have enjoyed developing the creatures as the series has progressed, learning about their natural habits and habitat and creating a language all of their own.
Q: Where did you come up with the names for your characters? The various personalities and life stories?
Paul: Both of us hate the clichéd fantasy names and tried to make the names in the Edge world a little different. Woodtrolls have woody names, like Snatchwood, Gruffbark, Snetterbark. Slaughterers have 'meaty' names like Gristle, Sinew, Tendon and Brisket. The academics have Latin/Basque names with lots of ius's and x's. Cowlquape, who goes through lots of changes, has a name taken from the German for tadpole - Kaulquappe. While Twig, of course, is just a tiny bit of the forest.
As the series has progressed, with prequels and sequels, the life histories of the various characters have become more deeply described. So Twig's mother, Maris, is only mentioned in Beyond the Deepwoods. In book 4, the Curse of the Gloamglozer, we meet her as a girl. And in the book we have just completed, Book 7 - Freeglader - we learn all about what happened to her after she abandoned her baby in the Deepwoods. The continuity revealed as the story unfolds is deeply satisfying.
Q: What was your favorite book as a child?
Chris: Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
Paul: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Q: Since you both work as a team from conception to finish, what is the creative process like? How exactly does the collaboration work?
Paul: The pictures and words take shape simultaneously, each affecting the development of the other. Sometimes characters and creatures start with a picture, sometimes with a textual description. In addition, the plot is worked on constantly by both of us and, when they are around, our children! Similarly, the text is passed back and forth, being rewritten continuously, until both of us are happy with it.
Q: What has been the most challenging part of writing the series?
Paul: The whole process is challenging. More importantly, though, it is also rewarding. Both of us have immense fun playing with the Edge world. Beyond the Deepwoods was the simplest book, an episodic rite of passage novel where we, as well as the main protagonist, began to explore this new world. As we have gone deeper into it, the world has become richer and richer, and the storylines similarly, more involved. We are fascinated by the way the world is still developing as we learn more and more about its history and explore all areas of the political and natural world in increasing depth.
Q: When did you first begin writing/drawing?
Chris: At five years old in the back pew of my father's church. My mother gave me paper and pens to keep me quiet during Dad's (very interesting) sermons.
Paul: From the moment I could write, I have been writing down stories. At seven, I was working on a series of stories about a snail called Oliver. At ten, I attempted to write a follow-up to The Phantom Tollbooth with ideas that took shape over the next 20 years and finally became a book entitled The Thought Domain.
Q: In Midnight Over Sanctaphrax, Twig deals with the loss of two father figures. How is this important for his development?
Paul: Twig has to grow up and assume responsibility for his father's crew and, when he learns of Tuntum's death, he realizes how he has grown and matured since he left the Woodtroll village. He hopes that Tuntum would be proud of him, and what he has achieved.
Q: What scene did you have the most fun creating?
Chris: Both of us enjoyed the wig-wig arena scene a lot. The whole Shryke slave market, with its platforms and walkways all hanging from the Deepwoods trees, was great fun to create as a home for the flightless Shrykes. The escape from it on Prowlgrinback was also great fun both to write and draw.
Paul: Midnight over Sanctaphrax was the third in the series, and the book where we were beginning to reap the rewards both of close collaboration and of getting to know the world more deeply. The Prowlgrins (which I had originally described as being like hyena/leopard-like creatures, but which Chris had drawn as a curious cross between a whale and a toad) looked to me as if they were brilliantly designed for leaping from branch to branch. Therefore the pictures in Book 1 directly influenced the plot in Book 3. Similarly, in book 1, I had wanted a pirate-like punishment similar to keelhauling, and had come up with sky-firing. In Midnight over Sanctaphrax, this throwaway idea becomes pivotal to the plot- but we won't give it away just in case you haven't read the book yet!
Q: The Edge Chronicles seems perfectly suited for film, with its fast-paced action, loveable creatures, and incredible comic-timing. Were you thinking along these lines during its inception?
Paul: We did not deliberately set out to produce fiction which could be turned into a film. That said, both of us work in a very visual way, so a lot of the plotting, characterization and scene development is quite cinematic. It would be a great thrill to see The Edge Chronicles realized on the big screen!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Muddle Earth- A great, funny, book, March 17, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Muddle Earth (Paperback)

I thought that this book was great. From the very beginning it hooks you. I picked up muddle earth because a friend of mine was reading it. It has a great plot that is entwined throughout the whole book, you're always wondering how the silverware fit in. I highly recommend this book. Don't drink anything when you're reading this book, I guaruntee it will come out your nose.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most funniest book I've ever read!, April 6, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Muddle Earth (Paperback)

Muddle Earth is a great humourous book, which will make you laughing in a min.

Joe is a normal school kid on Earth, that is until he gets sucked up to Muddle Earth with his dog, Henry by a Wizard Randalf that only knows half a spell and who turns him to a warrior hero. The other thing is, he can't go home! He's stuck with Veronica, a sarcastic talking budgie, the clueless Wizard Randalf, and Norbert the Not-so-big, a troll, who's obsessed with baking, and icing sugar.

Soon he finds out that the thing about Mudddle Earth, is that it's really muddled! There's cutlery stampedes, talking trees, and babbling brooks.

AND He's expected to fight dragons, defeat trolls, and Stop Dr. Cuddles from taking over Muddle Earth!

This was a really great book, with a humourous plot, and with even more funnier characters! 5 stars just isn't enough for this book!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is one fantasy destination that kids won't soon want to come home from, August 11, 2008

By 

KidsReads (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Muddle Earth (Hardcover)

Poor Joe Jefferson. He has a noisy family, not enough time and an assignment to write an essay on "My Amazing Adventure." Given his boring life, he's not even sure what to write about --- but soon he'll have enough adventures to fill a whole book, not just a term paper.

Joe is about to be whisked away to the land of Muddle Earth by Randalf, a truly inept wizard who knows exactly one spell. Randalf and his sidekicks --- the ogre known as Norbert the Not-Very-Big and the bird named Veronica --- have summoned Joe (and his own sidekick, his dog Harry) to Muddle Earth in order to save the kingdom from the horrid ogre known as Engelbert the Enormous.

Joe is a reluctant warrior at best, and despite his new name of Joe the Barbarian, all he really wants is to fulfill his duties and get back home again. Before Joe can even approach the fearsome Engelbert, however, he has to be outfitted with the appropriate warrior garb: the Woolly Gloves of Determination, the Wellies of Power, the War-bonnet of Sarcasm and the Trident of Trickery (which, given Randalf's pitiful budget, are actually old gloves and boots, a saucepan and a toasting-fork).

Nevertheless, despite his apprehension, Joe turns out to be a most capable hero, even when confronted not only with fearsome ogres and trolls but even by dragons, rogue cutlery and the fiercest villain of all --- Doctor Cuddles of Giggle Glade, who vows to become Lord and Master of Muddle Earth. But will Randalf, whose only spell involves bringing questionable heroes to Muddle Earth, be able to return Joe to the place he wants to be most of all --- home?

Originally published in Great Britain in 2003 by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell, the duo responsible for the hugely successful Edge Chronicles series, MUDDLE EARTH is now available to American readers for the first time. It is probably obvious from the title that MUDDLE EARTH is, in many ways, a parody of J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. From its three-part structure to its detailed maps at the novel's opening to the names of its characters (Randalf = Gandalf, Joe = Frodo, Musty Mountains = Misty Mountains, etc.), it's clear that Stewart and Riddell are having a great deal of fun at the expense of Tolkien's enduringly popular series.

It is fortunate, however, that MUDDLE EARTH has much to recommend it beyond being simply a funny parody. Its humor will appeal to all fans of light-hearted, satirical fantasy, particularly those who enjoy the works of Terry Pratchett. The book manages to combine inventive storylines with tongue-in-cheek humor: "The following day dawned bright and early --- unlike the day before, when it had been an hour late, and the previous Wednesday when it hadn't dawned until one-twenty in the afternoon."

It's hard to say which aspect will hook readers first --- Joe's "Amazing Adventures" or the antics of Muddle Earth's achingly funny characters. Regardless, this is one fantasy destination that kids won't soon want to come home from.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl