The Goblin's Puzzle
Being the Adventures of a Boy with No Name and Two Girls Called Alice
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3.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
Brimming with dragons, goblins, and logic puzzles, this middle-grade fantasy adventure is perfect for readers who enjoyed The Princess Bride or Rump.
THE BOY is a nameless slave on a mission to uncover his true destiny.
THE GOBLIN holds all the answers, but he’s too tricky to be trusted.
PLAIN ALICE is a bookish peasant girl carried off by a confused dragon.
And PRINCESS ALICE is the lucky girl who wasn’t kidnapped.
All four are tangled up in a sinister plot to take over the kingdom, and together they must face kind monsters, a cruel magician, and dozens of deathly boring palace bureaucrats. They’re a ragtag bunch, but with strength, courage, and plenty of deductive reasoning, they just might outwit the villains and crack the goblin’s puzzle.
"An adventure bursting with wit and charm. The characters are fresh, the story is thrilling, and the puzzles are downright diabolical. A wonderful book." —Jonathan Auxier, author of The Night Gardener
"Brimming with sarcastic, cheeky, laugh-out-loud humor, this is a smart, original, and completely engaging adventure." —School Library Journal, starred review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Debut author Chilton combines the unpredictability of a Monty Python skit with traces of the Brothers Grimm as he zigzags among the stories of an unnamed young slave, who escapes his master and soon becomes tied to a mischievous goblin; Plain Alice, the daughter of a sage desperate to follow in her father's footsteps; and Princess Alice, slated to rule West Stanhope if she can elude both a dragon and marriage to the treacherous Duke Geoffrey. The characters, hailing from the Middle Eastern inspired High Albemarle and the medievalesque Middlebury, learn that only logic and bravery will thwart dangerous foes, such as a princess-eating ogre, as they make their way from the dragon's lair to Princess Alice's home. Threaded between daring adventures and rhetorical arguments is the unnamed boy's dilemma over his fate. Is he "truly and justly a slave?" Or does he have the power, as the goblin Mennofar suggests, to make his own fate? Filled with quick-witted asides and engaging characters, Chilton's novel is sure to please readers looking for a fresh spin on cherished fairy tale conventions. Ages 8 12.
