Customer Reviews

The Order of Odd-Fish

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There are some books that are so great that you want to become an apostle for them, running around shoving copies into everyone's hands and forcing them to read it right then and there just so they can experience its pure awesomeness. The last book that made me feel like that was Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, and I made quite a few converts with my enthusiasm.

"The Order of Odd Fish" is one of those books. It has exactly what I need, the right balance of the bizarre and the horrible, of kitsch and cool, of fantasy and the fantastic. It is James and the Giant Peach as directed by Terry Gilliam, with hints of H.P. Lovecraft lurking around its darker corners.

The story begins with Jo Larouche, a "dangerous baby" who has been left in the care of her Aunt Lily, an 82-year old former actress who has retired with less-than-dignity in her Ruby Palace, a place of extravagant and wild costume parties and excess of every kind. Because this is a young fiction fantasy novel, we know that her world will soon be blown wide open, that the veil will be parted between the world Jo knows and the secret wonderland that she is inheritor to. The adventure begins with the arrival of Colonel Korsakov, a giant Russian who speaks to his own digestion, Sefino, a three-foot tall cockroach of flamboyant style with an impeccable ascot, and a mysterious black box with a silver handle that should never be turned.

Don't be fooled into thinking you know what happens next. While many books in this genre, such as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials, follow roughly the same opening scene with an orphan and a magical object, "The Order of Odd Fish" goes straight for the surreal, and nothing turns out as expected.

I could tell you about the characters, like the Belgian Prankster, a supernatural creature of nightmare dressed in green goggles and a rawhide diaper, or Ken Kiang, the Chinese millionaire who has dedicated his life to being the most evil man alive, or the dreaded Ichthala, the All-Devouring Mother who lurks and the threshold of a dark prophesy and is tended only by the Silent Sisters, a cult of veiled women bound in sadness, but it would be a shame to give away too much of the story.

Much of the fun of "The Order of Odd Fish" comes from the excitement of being disorientated. It is like riding on one of those spinning rides at an amusement park where just when you think you are about to be smashed into a wall the track sends you careening in a random direction leaving you unbalanced and fully entertained.

One note: While this is classified as a children's book, and is perfectly age appropriate so no parents have to worry, like the best of that classification it is a good time for anyone who enjoys a great fantasy. Highly recommended.

Jo was discovered as a baby by the flamboyant actress, Lily LaRouche, inside a washing machine, accompanied by a note that read: "This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a DANGEROUS baby." When our story opens, Jo is thirteen years old, living with Aunt Lily in the extravagantly moldering ruby palace in the middle of the California desert. The night of Lily's annual costume Christmas party, a Russian colonel whose actions are directed by his intestinal rumblings shows up, as does a narcissistic giant cockroach butler, not to mention a package for Jo that falls out of the sky. Chapter One ends, "After that, everyone had the leisure to start screaming."

Soon Jo and company are being chased by a billionaire with evil aspirations. They end up in Eldritch City, where Jo finds out just why she is considered dangerous and must continue to hide her identity from her newfound friends, fellow squires to the Knights of the Order of Odd-fish. The order is working on making, not an encyclopedia of all knowledge, but an appendix "of dubious facts, rumors, and myths.... A repository of questionable knowledge, and an opportunity to dither about."

As this task implies, author James Kennedy prefers to range along the road from the absurd to the ridiculous, stopping along the way in the outrageous. He also makes arguably masculine side trips into the realms of bodily functions and violence.

The plot is a little uneven in spots, perhaps because Kennedy combines one of those dark end-of-the-world story lines with the aforementioned nuttiness--and sometimes these two efforts seem to pull each other sideways. A few bits and pieces work better than others: I didn't quite buy the parts involving a pie-loving character called Hoagland Shanks, for example. However, many OTHER bits are simply hilarious--and refreshingly creative. The rituals related to dueling, particularly the exchange of insults, are among Kennedy's bizarre gems. Think of Eldritch City as the love child of Lewis Carroll and Neil Gaiman. It is well worth the trip.

I will caution you that Kennedy does not shy away from big words, nor from an irony worthy of a satirist writing for adults. I suspect a lot of the humor will sail right over young readers' heads, although Lemony Snickett has already established a precedent for using irony and obscure vocabulary in children's books. Watch in particular for the subplot involving the vain cockroach butler, Sefino, and his archenemy, a centipede newswriter.

I can't resist closing this review with the most astonishing sentence in The Order of Odd-Fish, a lovingly concocted work of art that will give you some idea what you're in for: "But soon Ken Kiang found he was both cat and mouse in a bewildering showdown with the Belgian Prankster, in which strategies of ever greater sophistication were deployed, canceled, reversed, appropriated, adapted, and foiled; pawns sacrificed, attacks repulsed, fortresses stormed and captured, treaties signed and betrayed, retreats faked and traps sprung, territory gained, lost, besieged, divided, despoiled, and exchanged--it was a shadow world, of infinite levels of deceit and disguise, of decoys that were Trojan horses full of more decoys that were red herrings in non-mysteries that had neither a solution nor a problem, concerning people that didn't exist in a place that was nowhere in a situation that was impossible!" (275)

Frankly, I can't wait to see what Kennedy writes next.

Jo Larouche has always been ordinary - or as ordinary as you can be when you live in a ruby palace with a highly eccentric retired movie star for an aunt. Though she was found in her aunt Lily's laundry room with a note detailing her as a dangerous baby, Jo has been for all of her thirteen years just about as dangerous as a glass of milk.

Things begin to change when strange events at Lily's Christmas party contrive to send Jo and Lily out of California and into a fantastical land called Eldritch City, where they are taken in by the Order of Odd-Fish, an eclectic collection of knights devoted entirely to the research of useless information. But that's just the beginning, for as Jo finds a new place for herself in Eldritch City, she also becomes entangled in a dangerous game with the Belgian Prankster, a villain who appears to be seeking the downfall of the city Jo has begun to call home.

A rollicking adventure for all ages, THE ORDER OF ODD-FISH has something for every lover of all things ridiculous. From obtuse and elaborate dueling rituals to cockroach butlers obsessed with seeking fame to a villain so sinister he can even make balloon animals terrifying, James Kennedy piles on oddities so fast that you can't help but dive in, and enjoy the stay.

Reviewed by: Rebecca Wells

James Kennedy must have been channeling Roald Dahl when he wrote this book. It's a bit darker and more violent than the Dahl books, but fits right in with the oddball fantasy of Matilda and James and the Giant Peach. The Order of Odd Fish is written with an older audience in mind, as the length and vocabulary as well as the content are more on par with a 5th/6th grade reading level. Kids who enjoyed the Dahl books, and more recent releases such as The Mysterious Benedict Society or Gregor the Overlander will enjoy "Odd Fish".

The story opens with 13 year old Jo and her adopted aunt, an aged movie star, living in a crumbling mansion in the desert. When a mysterious gift arrives addressed to Jo, all heck breaks loose. Jo and Aunt Lily are suddenly on the run from the supremely wicked Ken Kiang, who,
"...sold his soul 23 times to any supernatural being who cared to bid on it. No Price was too low: the 15th time he sold his soul it was for a bag of barbeque-flavored potato chips. Ken Kiang had eaten the chips with indecent glee as the demon looked away in embarrassment." Their companions in flight are a portly Russian colonel and a giant cockroach who wears a smoking jacket. Thus begins their journey to the bizarre place known as Eldritch City.

This novel has another villain who is far more terrifying than Kiang. He is known as the Belgian Prankster. His stunts in the "real" world include turning the Eiffel Tower upside down and carpeting an entire city. In Eldritch City, people run from him in terror...

Kennedy's offbeat humor is apparent in every line, and his characters are fantastically strange. Jo is a likable girl and for most of the novel she appears to be an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances. A great adventure story that will keep you guessing right up to the end.

This was recommended to me by a friend who knows my strange sense of humor and love of things bizarre. It was right up my alley. Though many parts of the book might echo aspects of stories long ago told, so many others are completely new, fresh and surreal that the story winds up becoming compelling and entertaining. Over all, a very good read. The world that Kennedy had created is detailed and vibrant, yet easy to imagine.

Though aimed at the Young adult reader, the vocabulary is very extensive and in no way "dumbed down" for the audience. If you get this for your child, expect a lot of "what does this word mean", type of questions. There are some words in there that might stump you too. The only shortcoming I found is that Kennedy tends to lay it on too thick. This is a 400+ page book that could easily be slimmed down to something in the mid 300's. I found my self skipping dialog and description at both the beginning and end of the book just so I could get into the plot more. It would have made a better read with less writing.

Having said that, it's still a great adventure and worth the time and effort. If you know a kid or even an adult with an odd view of the world, then this is a great book for them.

This book is very difficult to describe. The word "wacky" wants to be used, but I'm scooting it aside with my shoe because it's not quite right. "Wacky" is a little distasteful, carrying with it a hint of "zany" and nobody likes zany, right? Or madcap? So let's say that this is. . . a carnival of odd. When Jo Larouche was a baby, she was found in the washing machine with a note pinned to her blanket that read, "This is Jo. Please take care of her. But beware. This is a DANGEROUS baby." For 13 years, Jo has been about "as dangerous as milk," but at her Aunt Lily's annual costume ball, an adventure is kicked off that will unveil to Jo her true provenance, and the nature of the DANGER within her. Okay, if I had to give a one-line "elevator pitch," I suppose it would be something like that, but I'd have to follow it with something like, "The imagination, whimsy, and humor aren't like anything else you've read before." Truly.

You know how it's better to watch a comedy with somebody, that somehow the humor is riper and deeper when shared? Well, the whole time I was reading this I wished I was reading it with someone, so I could elbow them at particularly bizarre moments, or chortle, or read passages aloud and savor them. I don't recall having that kind of reaction when reading a book before, at least, not so consistently.

The adventure that Jo embarks upon with her Aunt Lily, a fat Russian named Colonel Korsakov, and a giant, vain cockroach butler named Sefino, carries them (in the belly of a fish) to Eldritch City, which is not exactly of our world. I love the word "eldritch" (I think I first fell in love with it when Kelly Link used it to describe an oddly upholstered couch), and to my mind Eldritch City joins the ranks of China Mieville's New Crobuzon and Scott Lynch's Camorr for mind-bendingly imaginative, sprawling weird cities. Only, it's less disgusting than New Crobuzon and Camorr -- but not entirely un-disgusting either. To make a complex story simple: Jo finds herself a squire to the knights of the Order of Odd-Fish, and she has to hide her true identity while seeking to thwart her hideous destiny, all this while riding flying, armored ostriches to fight duels, exploring ancient, drowned cathedrals buried deep beneath the city, drinking fermented centipede milk, fueding with other squires, sneaking around through secret passages, and soothing the oft-wounded vanity of a posse of cockroach butlers. Oy!

And the villains! Ken Kiang, who has studiously shaped himself from a do-gooder philanthropist billionaire into the vilest (he thinks) of super-villains: "He devoured books about evil; he interviewed terrorists, serial murderes, and dictators; he dabbled in strange and wild diabolisms, slit the throats of shrieking beasts on stone altars in far-off lands, drank kitten blood, and sold his soul no fewer than twenty-thhee times to any supernatural being who cared to bid on it. No price was too low: the fifteenth time he sold his soul for a bag of barbecue-flavored potato chips. Ken Kiang had eaten the chips with indecent glee as the demon looked away in embarrassment."

But Ken Kiang's most industrious efforts at wickedness pale in comparison to the astonishing depths of evil of the tale's true villain, a mysterious character known as The Belgian Prankster, who dresses, if my memory serves, in goggles, a cape of furs, and a ragged rawhide diaper.

Ancient devouring goddesses; weird creatures; ritual exchange of insults; wars fought entirely with sarcastic apologies; a musical instrument that is a giant worm one climbs inside of (lubricated) and squeezes its internal organs to expel air through its 41 orifices; gods with names like "Nixilpilfi, the Gerbil Who Does Not Know Mercy" and "Zookoofoomoot, the Maggot of Dismay." And did I mention the climax is really squishy-gross?

This book is too much fun.

A young woman on the brink of discovering a dangerous destiny. An eccentric aging aunt, who is more than meets the eye. A vain cockroach butler and a bumbling Russian protector. An incompetent billionaire who aspires to become the ultimate evil villian, and sells his soul for a bag of potato chips to an embarrassed demon. A Belgian Prankster, the sinister star of a popular reality show in our corner of the world, but something far worse where our heroine ends up. An overweight gardener, obsessed with pie. I could go on and on and only scratch the surface of eccentric and intriguing characters who come to life in the delightfully strange world that James Kennedy brings to life in this, his debut novel.

The order of odd-fish is a whimsical adventure, filled with the oddest of odd duck characters who nevertheless come to life, along the lines of Un Lun Dun or Alice In Wonderland or The Phantom Tollbooth and Coraline but for folks with slightly more mature sensibilities. It is delirious and strange, and I laughed out loud several times at its sheer cleverness, but it does go pretty dark and scary and doesn't shy away too far from "mature" themes and elements. Imagine if Harry Potter had been a girl, and was already growing up among the strangest elements of muggle life, and then entered a new reality that was much more bizarre and twisted and amusing than anything imagined in the Rowling books, and then began to worry that she was not the hero destined to vanquish the bad guy but was the ultimate baddie herself. No...better not compare this with Harry Potter. This is very much its own fine kettle of odd fish.

It's a lot of fun, and deserves to be celebrated widely. Highly recommended for readers who aren't quite kids anymore but who can't stand the thought of growing up.

Plot Summary:
Jo Larouche lives with her elderly, former actress Aunt Lily in a ruby palace in California. All Jo knows about her past is that she was found in Aunt Lily's washing machine one day soon after she was born, with a note attached to her saying that she was a very dangerous baby.

On the day of Aunt Lily's Christmas party, a large Russian gentleman arrives at the Ruby Palace with a giant butler cockroach, saying that his digestive system has told him that he must protect Jo from Ken Kiang. He also has a box for her from The Order of Odd-Fish. Ken finds them, Jo and her friends escape in a plane only to be shot down and eaten by a giant fish, which eventually spits them up on the shore of Eldritch City. There, Jo learns that her aunt, the Russian and the cockroach are all members of The Order of Odd-Fish, a knighthood dedicated to the pursuit of useless and often baseless rumors and conjectures. Jo herself has a history with the knighthood and Eldritch City. After making friends with some squires, going on some quests, hiding from the Belgian Prankster and fighting a duel, Jo realizes that she must face her past and help save Eldritch City from the ravenous hunger of the All-Devouring Mother Goddess and her cult of Silent Sisters.

My Thoughts:
This book would be excellent to read out loud with someone- I bet the audiobook version is great. I enjoyed reading it, too; the plot is somewhat ridiculous, the dialogue witty and hilarious and the characters are certainly one of a kind. For example, Ken Kiang got so tired of doing good things that he tries to become evil. But he isn't very good at it, so he has to try very hard, and must focus on making his laugh truly evil.

The Order of Odd-Fish is fun, frothy and full of flavor. Just be prepared if you're reading it- it's Nickelodeon-like in its ability to really gross you out with bodily functions and fluids!

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JK has created something truly special here. For both young and old, once you pick it up, you'll be happily caught inside the vortex and wish that you too could become part of the Order of Odd-Fish.

A fried of mine passed this along to me with the recommendation that it was the best fantasy novel she'd read since Harry Potter. I'm inclined to agree. It was certainly the most original thing I've read in ages. At no point did I feel like I knew what was coming, or that the plot was following any kind of formula. The story was wonderful, and the writing was fresh and witty.