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Geek Fantasy Novel

2.87 of 5 stars 2.87 · rating details · 188 ratings · 75 reviews

What happens when a science geek and magic collide?

Be careful what you wish for. Really. Because wishes are bad. Very bad. They can get you trapped in fantasy worlds full of killer bunny rabbits, evil aunts, and bothersome bacteria, for example. Or at least that's Ralph's experience. He's been asked to spend the summer with his strange British relatives at their old manor...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published April 1st 2011 by Scholastic Press (first published March 29th 2011)

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Jul 04, 2012 Ken Kugler rated it 1 of 5 stars

First I would like to say that this book really disappointed me. It is simply written as if in the style of “A Series of unfortunate Events”.
The lead character, Ralph, if an American who has always been told not to wish for anything and not told why. It seems that he is from a magically connected family and that wishes are often done with disastrous consequences. Then the letter from the British side of the family comes asking for help installing WiFi in their castle. Off he goes and discovers...more

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Dec 20, 2011 J.Elle rated it 2 of 5 stars

If I could, I would give this a 1.5 stars. It doesn't deserve two, but I like to reserve a one star for books I absolutely loathe.

I admit this confused me. It was like Alice in Wonderland on a bad trip. Ralph is a computer geek who, after being bitterly disappointed when he is denied his dream job as a game designer (despite being a teenager and thus making it unlikely they would hire him), sets off to spend the summer with some relatives he’s never met in England without his parent’s permission...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Tony rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen

Sigh -- why do I keep dipping my toes into teen (aka "young adult") books? I'm perpetually disappointed. There's a clever premise or interesting setting that hooks me, and then it all usually falls apart in a blizzard of cliches, bad writing, or poor storytelling. In this case, I was initially caught up in the adventure laid out before Ralph, a typical American gamer-geek teen more adept with computers than girls. Out of the blue, he gets a mysterious invitation to spend the summer with his Engl...more Sigh -- why do I keep dipping my toes into teen (aka "young adult") books? I'm perpetually disappointed. There's a clever premise or interesting setting that hooks me, and then it all usually falls apart in a blizzard of cliches, bad writing, or poor storytelling. In this case, I was initially caught up in the adventure laid out before Ralph, a typical American gamer-geek teen more adept with computers than girls. Out of the blue, he gets a mysterious invitation to spend the summer with his English cousins at their castle, along with with a plane ticket. And when his parents say he can't go, he sneaks out and hops on the plane anyway, setting the stage for a great adventure.

The initial stages of this are solid enough, as Ralph makes the acquaintance of his three cousins and their odd parents. It seems that there's always deep dark family secret revolving around wishes, and Ralph's finally going to learn what it is. Unfortunately, once the wishes start flying, the book starts to lose cohesion. Ralph is basically thrust down the rabbit-hole into the wishes of his various cousins, all of which are "staged" by some kind of narrator, who continually interjects themselves into the story. I guess teens might find this kind of basic metafiction trickery engrossing, but it did nothing for me.

In one wish Ralph visits a realm where fairies are subjugated, in another he visits one of the purgatories, and various wacky adventures ensue. There's a lot of kind of slapstick humor thrown about in a kind of explicitly wanna-be Monty Pythonesque way. Indeed, the action is so fast and furious that none of the characters are ever given the time or breathing space to develop, and it all just turns into a kind of crazy roller coaster ride that grinds to a halt with a completely tepid ending. The author is playing around with various narrative conventions and storytelling tropes, but unfortunately it's just not that fun or interesting to me, hopefully the young teens this book is intended for would find it more entertaining.

Note: Just for the record, I have played plenty of D&D and computer games, watched tons of sci-fi TV shows and films, and love Monty Python.
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May 15, 2013 Marsha rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, literature-fiction, children, action-adventure

“Geek” is a novel that breaks a good many rules about the written word, including the adventure novel, the fantasy novel, the coming-of-age novel, the story-within-a-story novel, e.g. That should have made it witty, funny, intelligent, satirical, surprising and offbeat.

But it isn’t. The book is too arch in tone, the “hero” is an arrogant bumbler who doesn’t help the others in adventures so much as make a right mess of them and the wish-granting is clearly going to be such a disaster right from t...more

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May 18, 2013 Tom rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was TERRIBLE. From the cover art, you would think it had something to do with Greek mythology/fantasy. The art on the dust jacket is awesome, but extremely misleading.
Ralph gets a letter from a strange person he has never heard of or seen before claiming to be his relative asking him to go to Britain to help set up their Internet connection, so he, against his parent's will, flies to their estate. Then,a strange lady who allegedly killed her son comes, asking him to make a wish that sh...more

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May 31, 2011 Laura Madsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, 2011, urban-fantasy

I confess: I am a geek by any common definition of the word.

Science major in college? Check
Played D&D? Check
Been to a Star Trek convention? Check
Own a color-coordinated set of 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice? Check
Able to quote entire scenes of Star Wars? Check
Have a home wi-fi network with five or more devices connected to it? Check

So when I saw the cover of GEEK: FANTASY NOVEL at the library, illustrated with a glasses-wearing geek in a battle helm, I picked up the book and flipped...more I confess: I am a geek by any common definition of the word.

Science major in college? Check
Played D&D? Check
Been to a Star Trek convention? Check
Own a color-coordinated set of 4-, 6-, 8-, 10-, 12- and 20-sided dice? Check
Able to quote entire scenes of Star Wars? Check
Have a home wi-fi network with five or more devices connected to it? Check

So when I saw the cover of GEEK: FANTASY NOVEL at the library, illustrated with a glasses-wearing geek in a battle helm, I picked up the book and flipped the pages. When I saw the list of possessions the protagonist packs for a trip (including 1 Petri Dish, 1 set of High Elf Figurines, 2 Laptops and 1 Novelization of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan), I had to get the book.

Ralph is an American teenage geek who dreams of designing video games. His parents love him, but for his entire life they have adamantly prohibited him from making wishes, even a simple wish while blowing out a birthday candle. They explain to him that many people on his family tree have died from making wishes, for example one who “wished for money and wound up with a coin-shaped tunnel through her body after a gold piece was shot at her from a cannon.”

Ralph is invited by the eccentric British branch of his family to spend the summer installing a computer network in their castle. He has fun with his cousins, Beatrice, Cecil and Daphne, and comes to understand that his parents’ prohibition on wishes is because of his Aunt Chessie, the Duchess of Cheshire, and her magic wish-granting ability.

Soon he is launched into the fantasy land of Cecil’s wish, a creepy place reminiscent of Niel Gaiman’s Faerie in Stardust, where Chessie and her minions try to kill him in various flamboyant ways. Ralph is infected by Shambling Mound Distemper, attacked by fairies, afflicted by pyrotechnically hyperallergenic cold-fused nuclear ragweed, and nearly stabbed by a unicorn-horn stiletto—all in his first two hours. Things deteriorate after that.

The writing is very entertaining, and the narrator is intriguingly unreliable.
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Sep 13, 2011 Courtney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: action-adventure, fantasy, funny-stuff, teen-fiction

Ralph has never been able to make a wish. Or, rather, he has never been allowed to make a wish. His parents strictly forbid it. And since they're pretty cool about everything else, Ralph never makes a wish. Then, one day, he receives a letter from his estranged aunt requesting that he come to Europe to set up their wi-fi network. Against his parent's wishes, he takes off for England and gets to work. And then another estranged aunt comes into the picture. One he's never even heard of; one that o...more

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Feb 06, 2012 Sage Collins rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book had the perfect premise for me. I mean a geek ends up wished into fantasyland. What's not to like about that for a RPG-playing geek like me?

Well, it turns out, quite a lot.

First of all, here is another book where the part that's advertised is only the first third or so and the rest is totally different. There are reasons why each section of the book is very different than the rest (as the result of different people's wishes landing the MC in different types of fantasy worlds), but the...more This book had the perfect premise for me. I mean a geek ends up wished into fantasyland. What's not to like about that for a RPG-playing geek like me?

Well, it turns out, quite a lot.

First of all, here is another book where the part that's advertised is only the first third or so and the rest is totally different. There are reasons why each section of the book is very different than the rest (as the result of different people's wishes landing the MC in different types of fantasy worlds), but the geek ending up in the D&D-like world with the exploding bunnies only happens in one section of the novel. The other sections are a fairytale world, an underworld, narrator intrusions, and the first section, appropriately named "The Boring Part." I admit, I was bored during the boring part. What surprised me was that I was also bored during the D&D-like fantasy world. I got a little more interested in the Snow Queen section, and even more so in the underworld section, but those first two sections dragged on and on.

Something changed during the 3rd section. Sure, the type of fantasy was more interesting. And I found Daphne a more delightful hero than Ralph. But what really starts happening here is that the omniscient narrator starts intruding. So the narration gains voice, and this probably made it a little more engaging. This voice gets more intrusive as the book goes on, and the narrator is a character in the end.

And here we run into one of the book's problems. It feels very much like as the book progressed, the author thought of cool things to add...but never got around to editing the beginning to match. The voicey narrator is non-existent in The Boring Part (but the end of the book would suggest he had to be telling the whole thing), a distant figure in the sky in the first wish, and then all of a sudden is intrusive and argumentative from the 2nd wish on. In the 3rd wish, he suddenly is in love with one of the girls, never having shown any preference for her before (meanwhile, he tells you Ralph has fallen for both girls, even though one is a child?). Things are left unresolved (why is Ralph in color while everyone else is black and white? *shrugs*) or forgotten (Ralph's allergies in the 1st wish were pretty important until they weren't). Characters that shouldn't be affected by the narrator pop up where they have no reason to be. And characters just suddenly act however is most convenient for them to act in the moment.

Speaking of how characters act, here is where my main disappointment in the book was: I never bought Ralph as a geek. Seriously, we are told he's a geek, but he doesn't act geeky. If you stick a gamer (video or tabletop or LARP) in the middle of fantasyland, he's going to geek out on you. He's going to think he knows exactly what to do. He's going to follow the constructs of games he knows. And if he's super-geeky, he's going to think he knows where those games fail to address the "real world," and still think he knows exactly what to do. He's not going to be able to stop thinking about and talking about games he's played (this might be true in the real world too). Only once (and it wasn't the D&D world) did Ralph think, "if I was in a game, I'd press these buttons and get free." I honestly don't even understand the point of calling it a "Geek Fantasy Novel" if the geekiness was non-existent in the fantasy worlds (except that it markets the book to geeks).

So. Recommended for fans of meta-fiction, stories that forget what they're doing, and non-geeks looking for a minor step towards reading about geeky MCs(less)

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Nov 13, 2011 Suzy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This novel was hard to get through. It was funny and fun but I found it kind of out there also. It definitely falls under the category of modern fantasy because it includes fairy tale characters, has magic, and has an alternative universe. The book begins in modern times in New Jersey with a nerdy main character Ralph. His parents forbid him to wish for anything, but he ends up leading his long lost cousins on their wishing quest (which the cousins’ parents have forbidden them from wishing, also...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Karen Yingling rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ralph is glad to be free of his boring parents for the summer after receiving airline tickets and an invitation from family in England. His parents have always insisted that he never make a wish, and he finds out why-- many members of his family have died that way, and he soon finds himself imperiled on a quest of his own, fighting an evil aunt and thrust into a world that more resembles Ruinscape (Okay, RUNEscape, although the effect that it has on my son's motivation to do anything else is rui...more

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May 19, 2011 Hilary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fantasy, grades-7-8, humor

Ralph has always known that you NEVER make a wish, they are dangerous. So far in life, he really hasn't had a reason to make a wish. That's all about to change. He is unexpectedly invited to visit his relatives who live in England, and he goes, without his parents permission. Once there he finds himself in the middle of his cousins wishes where his life is constantly in peril.
Reminiscent of the classic Edgar Eager book Half Magic, but for an older audience. Wish sequences are fun and action fill...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Monica Edinger rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very entertaining read. Yes, yet another intrusive narrator of sorts, but done in a very different way indeed. While I'm not a gamer I know enough about gaming to have seen at least some of the references here.

The story? Has something to do with poor geeky Ralph who, after being disappointed by not getting the gaming job he applied for (given that he is twelve-years-old it was in his dreams anyway), takes his British aunt up on an invitation to come to their castle to set up their in...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Kris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: bookreviewcenter, youngadult

Recommended for gr. 6-9. Older geeky gamers might also enjoy it. Many elements will appeal to the geek/gamer - the protagonist, Ralph, certainly fits the description. Other elements will appeal to the twisted fairy tale lover, for example, the fairy godmother and wishes gone awry. And we can't forget the exploding bunnies! That said, I felt the story was disjointed. The different sections of the book didn't flow together very well. One of the previous reviews called it a crazy roller coaster rid...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Jenny rated it 2 of 5 stars

i rate this book a very conflicted meh.

author is clearly a fan of Monty python, which is great, but one liner's and unexpected narrator involvement are not nearly enough to carry a book. it's another example of how writing for youth is ruining perfectly good stories. it's like if you are writing a YA book, any old gimmick will do; it's ok that all the other stuff is lame. where are the editor's that are supposed to say things like, "this is a really good idea and your style is pretty neat but yo...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Handd51 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pretty interesting with some really excellent humor - but a bit precious - or precocious? - at times as the narrator steps into the story to clean up the loose ends. The core premise is some kind of overblown video game that is real, where a modern noble family with magical roots gets tangled up by a decision to forbid wishes. As the tangle unravels reality, the reader follows some fairly absurd plot twists that mostly work - altho the end becomes a bit convoluted. This will appeal to some geeky...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Keli rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, fairy-tales, humorous, fantasy, tween

This is another case of a great cover and a mediocre book. I had such high hopes. But the meta element of the author inserting himself into the book was lame and inconsistent. I don't have a problem with an author inserting himself into the book if it's well done. But in this case, it wasn't well done. I didn't understand why wishes brought people into adventures in a constructed fairy tale world. It doesn't seem to make sense. Why make a wish if the risk is real but there's no actual consequenc...more

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Apr 27, 2011 Bethany Larson rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: signed-copy

This book is not AT ALL what I expected. I thought it was going to be a cute little foray into geek culture, (with which I am very well-acquainted) a romp through a world full of comic book in-jokes and World of Warcraft references. While Geek Fantasy Novel has those, as well as fire-burping bunnies, the book is soooo much more than that--it's smart and meta and inventive and full of SAT words and freakin' layered--there are TWO narrators! Not that it's a hard book to read; it's definitely not t...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, adventure, fantasy, fiction

The premise of this was fantastic, but I don't think the author did enough with it. As a geek, I would have loved to see a real geeky response to fairy tales. Like: Ralph actually putting on a helmet like the one pictured and trying to figure out how to use binary code to solve one of the puzzles. Rather than doing lots of geeky things, he sort of complained and tagged along and didn't really seem to do anything. In that respect it was disappointing.

However, I love meta where the narrator gets t...more

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Dec 22, 2011 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-fantasy

I went to an author signing at Oblong Books - Libba Bray, David Levithan, Michael Northrop and E. Archer. I wanted to buy ALL the books there, of course, but I had told myself I could only buy the official copy of Beauty Queens I wanted.

And then I realized that Geek Fantasy Novel has been on my wishlist for a long time. And E. Archer was there. And then he read from it, and it was funny. And he could sign it. And I wanted it. And I wanted it. But I was a budget! But I wanted it!

Needless to say,...more

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Dec 29, 2011 Kelsey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I was excited about this book due to the idea that it was a totally geeky fantasy novel. What it ended up being was just plain weird. The plot was interesting enough...while it lasted. By the end the story has collapsed into randomness. The character's where difficult to identify with: they were shallow (which I guess is part of the point of the story) and hard to identify with. The narration was also wandering. There were whole paragraphs where I didn't know what was happening.

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Jun 21, 2012 Brianna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fairy-tales, adventure

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Dec 11, 2011 Dayna Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Ralph, the geek, has been asked to spend the summer in England with relatives. His parents don't want him to go and they don't want him ever to make a wish. What his parents know that Ralph doesn't is that his mother and her sisters have a special power, they grant wishes - and these wishes don't always turn out well. When his three cousins proceed to have their wishes granted, Ralph ends up going along for the ride.

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Jun 05, 2011 Laura K rated it 5 of 5 stars

Like most others I was drawn to the prospect of some geek humor, and ended up with something entirely different. I fell in love with the beautifully developing plot line and amazingly used nonsense, and was constantly laughing when the author killed off the character about 3 times. Overall I think this is an amazing book for anyone who is open to something different, others will probably find it annoying and confusing.

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Aug 09, 2011 Marisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, humor

Eh. If I hadn't taken so long to read this I may have given it four stars. It is occasionally quite funny. While I don't usually mind a meddlesome narrator, it got a little out of hand in this book and completely lost the narrative structure at the end. It was intentional, but I kind of felt like it was a weak effort -- the only way the author could work his way out of the narrative hole he'd dug. Which is kind of ironic considering that's actually the whole plot.

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May 14, 2011 Emma rated it 3 of 5 stars

I feel like a book that promises exploding bunnies really has an obligation to deliver said bunnies in the first 50 pages. This book did not. The whole venture also got off to a slow start but I suspect that was to be expected since the first part of the novel is called "Boring (But Important)." This book is fun and has a lot going on to draw readers in and keep them engaged--just not this particular reader I guess.

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Apr 13, 2011 Christy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction, 7-8

A spoiler or two.

Over the top and very funny, I was really into Geek until three quarters of the way in (spoiler)just as Ralph enters the land of the dead. After that I felt the story lost some steam. However.....I will still promote this as I know some kids will really get into it. The evil (spoiler)fire belching/exploding bunnies were my fav part because really....who doesn't like a cute critter that becomes a lethal weapon?

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Nov 14, 2011 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: light-and-fluffy, young-adult-fantasy

Cute and quirky, but ultimately underdeveloped in the areas of character and story, while over-built in terms of setting. Young boys should especially enjoy the humor and geeks of all stripes will love the subtle homage and skewering of favorite fantasy novel tropes. In the end, however, this book is too clever for its own good and not quite geeky enough to stand the test of time. Quest elsewhere for true die-hard geekery, my friends.

Full review on my blog: http://splinteredfragmentsoflight.blo ...more

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Oct 27, 2011 Bri rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Geeks

I enjoyed reading this book. I like a lot of things, though. This was a book that actually gave me some encouragement for my NaNoWriMo story. It was a book I wasn't sure I was going to read. In fact, I almost didn't. Something caught my eye though, and it got read. Overall, it was an unusual book. Some parts didn't make much sense, and it took a while to figure out what was going on.

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Jan 01, 2012 Rivka D. rated it 2 of 5 stars

I feel like the author took himself too seriously here. There are some legitimately good phrases and very entertaining scenarios and descriptions. But, gee whiz, The end of the book is absolutely chaotic. I really felt like he was writing for a quirky movie and not a book. Anyway, it is mildly fun but I am not sure if I could necessarily recommended it..

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Nov 08, 2011 John rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: comic-fantasy, coming-of-age, fairy-tales, family, humor, urban-fantasy, ya-fiction

Ralph is a typical young boy, dreaming of becoming a game designer and sketching out fantasy worlds in his head. Then, visiting family in England, he happens upon actual fantasy, in the form of an interfering fairy aunt. Will he be able to protect his cousins (and himself) from his aunt's machinations? Will anyone make it to the end of the book alive?

This book had an interesting premise, but it ran out of gas half-way through. The deeper into fantasy the characters went, the less important their...more

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