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| Publisher's Hardcover ©2024 | -- |
Television programs. Fiction.
Best friends. Fiction.
Friendship. Fiction.
Magic. Fiction.
Family life. Fiction.
Los Angeles (Calif.). Fiction.
Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry discovers that the realm of Sunder from his favorite TV series, Max's Adventures in Sunderworld, is in fact a real place with very real stakesWhen Leopold starts having bizarre visions, such as of a raccoon with its tail on fire and a speeding red trolley in the middle of busy Los Angeles traffic, he suspects he's getting glimpses of the extraordinary place called Sunder, a fantasy world from his beloved show. He confesses his visions to his best friend, Emmet Worthington, and the pair wind up using a special token to take the trolley, Angels Flight, into Sunder. There, they discover that the complex world of sparks-people with magical abilities-includes connections to Leopold's mother, who died when he was 12. At the heart of it all, Leopold is trying to figure out why he's been pulled into this world and whether there's more to him than his deep fear of being "average and insignificant" and dealing with his father's frustrated rages. Riggs' writing is tight and well paced. Some incredible action scenes leap off the pages, and Sunder is a blur of dangerous situations, well-drawn characters, and magical devices. The ending will make readers wish they could immediately reach for the second volume. Leopold, like most of the cast, is cued white; Emmet is Black.A fully imagined fantastical world with compelling characters and a nail-biting cliffhanger.(Fantasy. 13-17)
School Library Journal (Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)Gr 8 Up —Leopold Berry lost his mother to cancer when he was 12, and the subsequent five years with an overbearing and aggressive father have done nothing to assuage his grief. Leopold also experiences strange visions, things that seem more at home in his beloved 1990s fantasy series Max's Adventures in Sunderworld than modern Los Angeles. Leopold discovered it in a box of his mom's old VHS tapes, and his obsession with watching and rewatching the show, coupled with producing new scenes with his best friend, Emmet, serve to create a bond to her memory. So when he and Emmet actually find Sunder after a ride on a broken-down railway trolley, he is ready to experience all the promises of Max's adventures despite the perils that lie within. Riggs generates interest both through Leopold's exploration of the mysterious connection his mother had with Sunder, as well as the consequences of Leopold and Emmet's initial visit there. He also pokes fun at the "chosen one" motif when Leopold embarrasses himself in front of the Sunder community on a channeler test, becoming memed into "Lunchtray Larry." But less successful is the magic of Sunder, which, when coupled with Leopold's initial visions, presents as gritty and occasionally bizarre. Clearly intended as a multi-book series, a cliff-hanger mystery sets the focus for the sequel. VERDICT An easy sell to any fan of Riggs's "Peculiar Children" series, though its quirks limit the appeal to a broader fantasy audience. A general purchase.—Michael Van Wambeke
Kirkus Reviews
School Library Journal (Mon Jul 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)
Leopold broke the silence. "We've been standing here a full minute. Are you going to explain why you dragged me back here?"
"Just look," Emmet said anxiously, pointing into the gloom. "Halfway up, right side. What do you see?"
Leopold squinted. "Crappy apartment buildings."
"And there." Emmet's arm shifted higher and to the left. "What about over there?"
"I don't know, man, it's pretty dark--"
"How about a huge building with what looks like a crown on top? The US Bank Tower."
"No."
"Do you see any tall buildings at all?" He was gesturing toward the crest of the hill now, cloaked in a fine shroud of mist. "There should be a bunch of skyscrapers."
"Yeah." Leopold hesitated, then frowned. "I mean--no. I don't see any of that."
"That's what I'm saying. Where the hell did they go?"
Leopold blinked at Emmet. "What do you mean?"
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" He was getting frustrated. "They're gone."
Leopold turned to face his friend. Emmet's eyes were wide, his expression bordering on panic. Emmet was freaking out--and Emmet never freaked out.
"Buildings don't just disappear," Leopold said slowly.
"Great. Yeah. Let's make a list of other obvious facts." Emmet shot him a stony look before returning his eyes to the hill. "First: Buildings don't just disappear. Second: I know what the downtown LA skyline is supposed to look like--and that's not it."
"What are you trying to say? A minute ago you were giving me this big speech about how all this weirdness was just coincidental. Now you're making me think my episodes are contagious."
Emmet was shaking his head. "I realize I just spent hours telling you that what you've been seeing isn't real. But I'm not seeing, like, half-human monsters outside motels. This feels like a cosmic problem. I was born and raised in this beautiful, disgusting city, and it's never looked like that." He nodded toward the hill again, then took a deep breath. "There might be more than just a tiny bit of uncanny weirdness happening right now. And I need to know why."
A snap of silent lightning split the night sky. They turned at the same time to gaze at Angels Flight.
Inside the trolley, dimly, a light was burning. For a moment, neither boy drew breath.
"Holy shit," Leopold said softly.
Emmet turned to him. "You still have that token, right?"
Excerpted from Sunderworld, Vol. I: the Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry by Ransom Riggs
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
The instant New York Times bestseller from visionary storyteller Ransom Riggs!
Weaving the familiar with the peculiar, this stunning tale of loss, triumph, friendship and magic, will remind readers everywhere that true heroes are made, not born—and when you’re never the chosen one, sometimes you have to choose yourself.
Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry is seeing weird things around Los Angeles. A man who pops a tooth into a parking meter. A glowing trapdoor in a parking lot. A half-mechanical raccoon with its tail on fire that just won’t leave him alone. Every hallucinatory moment seems plucked from a cheesy 1990s fantasy TV show called Max's Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are.
Not a good sign.
In the blurry weeks after his mother’s death, a young Leopold discovered VHS tapes of its one and only season in a box headed for the trash—and soon became obsessed. Losing himself in Sunder was the best way to avoid two things: grieving his mother and being a chronic disappointment to his overbearing father. But when the strange visions return—at the worst possible time on the worst possible day—Leopold turns to his best friend Emmet for help. Together they discover that Sunder is much more than just an old TV show, and that Los Angeles is far stranger than they ever imagined. And soon, he’ll realize that not only is Sunderworld real, but it’s in grave danger.
Certain he’s finally been chosen for greatness, Leopold risks everything to claim his destiny, save the world of his childhood dreams, and prove once and for all that he’s not the disappointment his father believes him to be. But when everything goes terribly, horribly, excruciatingly wrong, Leopold’s disappointments prove to be more extraordinary than he ever could have imagined.
How do you battle darkness when no one believes in you—not even yourself?
Welcome to Sunderworld.