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Norumbegan Quartet #3
The Empire of Gut and Bone
Murder! Mystery! Rebellion! From bestselling and National Book Award-winning author M.T. Anderson, a third visit to the world of THE GAME OF SUNKEN PLACES.
The land of New Norumbega is an unusual one--an empire of gut and bone, a kingdom of blood and mucus. At its dark, dry heart is a ruling class that doesn't care about much besides itself . . . and a ruler who is (literally) a one-eyed stump of flesh.
Brian and Gregory have come to New Norumbega for a reason--to get the Norumbegans to help them thwart an alien attack back home on earth. But instead, the two boys find themselves caught up in both a robot rebellion and a murder mystery after one of the Norumbegan leaders is sent to sleep . . . permanently.
In New Norumbega, it's very hard to know who to trust. There are assassins around every corner, and secrets pave every conversation. Brian and Gregory will be lucky to make it out alive, never sure if they are meant to catch the murderer . . . or be the killer's next victim.
The land of New Norumbega is an unusual one--an empire of gut and bone, a kingdom of blood and mucus. At its dark, dry heart is a ruling class that doesn't care about much besides itself . . . and a ruler who is (literally) a one-eyed stump of flesh.
Brian and Gregory have come to New Norumbega for a reason--to get the Norumbegans to help them thwart an alien attack back home on earth. But instead, the two boys find themselves caught up in both a robot rebellion and a murder mystery after one of the Norumbegan leaders is sent to sleep . . . permanently.
In New Norumbega, it's very hard to know who to trust. There are assassins around every corner, and secrets pave every conversation. Brian and Gregory will be lucky to make it out alive, never sure if they are meant to catch the murderer . . . or be the killer's next victim.
294 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2011
5 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
M.T. Anderson
59 books1,253 followersMatthew Tobin Anderson (M. T. Anderson), (1968- ) is an author, primarily of picture books for children and novels for young adults. Anderson lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
His picture books include Handel Who Knew What He Liked; Strange Mr. Satie; The Serpent Came to Gloucester; and Me, All Alone, at the End of the World. He has written such young adult books as Thirsty, Burger Wuss, Feed, The Game of Sunken Places, and Octavian Nothing. For middle grader readers, his novels include Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales and its sequel, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen.
-Wikipedia
His picture books include Handel Who Knew What He Liked; Strange Mr. Satie; The Serpent Came to Gloucester; and Me, All Alone, at the End of the World. He has written such young adult books as Thirsty, Burger Wuss, Feed, The Game of Sunken Places, and Octavian Nothing. For middle grader readers, his novels include Whales on Stilts: M. T. Anderson's Thrilling Tales and its sequel, The Clue of the Linoleum Lederhosen.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 14, 2021
And this book is delightfully gross. If Book 1 was a Creepy, Murderous Jumanji with robots, and Book 2 was a Ray Bradbury-esque Twilight Zone "suburb that will eat you," then this book can only be described as Bionicle, but inside a living (possibly -- probably? -- dead and decomposing) being. The inhabitants are elves and the creature in which they're living is so enormous they haven't explored it all. It's very gross, throughout, but in a good way (?).
The elfi-ish Norumbegans on which Brian (not necessarily Greg) has pinned all his hopes for stopping the Thusser invasion from spreading like a cancer through the suburbs of America have sunk to new lows.
When they "retreated" from Earth through the portal in the mountain, they stepped into ... something alive. It swallowed, numerous times, and destroyed or washed away the beginnings of their new civilization and city. They're left living in squalor and ramshackle buildings hastily carved out of tissue and constructed by the few automatons who weren't washed away. The remainder of the automatons deserted.
Brian, Greg and Kalgrash are rescued by an automaton, Dansig, who trades them to the Norumbegan court in exchange for the deactivated heads of 30 of his automaton comrades. Except the Norumbegans welch on the agreement, because they don't believe automatons are beings.
Then, the Regent to the royal Stub (it's way grosser than you're imagining) is murdered at court. Kalgrash and the boys' automaton rescuer are accused of the assassination. They're deactivated. Brian and Greg are quickly embroiled in court intrigue. Brian is determined to prove Kalgrash and Dansig innocent, get them reactivated and go in search of the means of stopping the Thusser invasion of Earth.
But even in the body of New Norumbega, the Thusser are planning and plotting and so are many, many individuals at court. And like in all the books, things -- specifically the disgusting Royal Stub -- are not what they seem.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
The elfi-ish Norumbegans on which Brian (not necessarily Greg) has pinned all his hopes for stopping the Thusser invasion from spreading like a cancer through the suburbs of America have sunk to new lows.
When they "retreated" from Earth through the portal in the mountain, they stepped into ... something alive. It swallowed, numerous times, and destroyed or washed away the beginnings of their new civilization and city. They're left living in squalor and ramshackle buildings hastily carved out of tissue and constructed by the few automatons who weren't washed away. The remainder of the automatons deserted.
Brian, Greg and Kalgrash are rescued by an automaton, Dansig, who trades them to the Norumbegan court in exchange for the deactivated heads of 30 of his automaton comrades. Except the Norumbegans welch on the agreement, because they don't believe automatons are beings.
Then, the Regent to the royal Stub (it's way grosser than you're imagining) is murdered at court. Kalgrash and the boys' automaton rescuer are accused of the assassination. They're deactivated. Brian and Greg are quickly embroiled in court intrigue. Brian is determined to prove Kalgrash and Dansig innocent, get them reactivated and go in search of the means of stopping the Thusser invasion of Earth.
But even in the body of New Norumbega, the Thusser are planning and plotting and so are many, many individuals at court. And like in all the books, things -- specifically the disgusting Royal Stub -- are not what they seem.
Looking for more book suggestions for your 7th/8th grade classroom and students?
Visit my blog for more great middle grade book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: https://amb.mystrikingly.com/
April 6, 2022
This book wasn't quite as suspenseful as the previous book in the series, however, the mystery element was a nice addition. The plot kept me guessing right up until the end, which became more suspenseful and harder to put down. I am really looking forward to the fourth and final book in the series, if for no other reason, to see what genre Anderson brings to it. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for something different and refreshing.
June 28, 2025
I feel that this was an improvement over the previous book. It introduced some interesting characters and it felt like it had more purpose. The idea of planetary environment being a giant body of some kind was a cool idea, and the descriptions of how shambling and craptacular the Norumbegans became was also a highlight.
December 27, 2020
DNF - bored to tears on this. The first book in the series was awesome, but this is tedious. Got about 75% done and just couldn’t do it.
July 17, 2011
In the third installment of this series, Brian and Gregory wander through a kingdom of gut and bone and one consisting of various body organs such as a heart and a liver inside a huge body. They want the Norumbegans to help them deal with an alien attack back on earth. But the Norumbegans themselves are self-absorbed and briefly preoccupied with a revolt of their own that may be coming from within or from without. As the boys try to navigate their way through this alien land, led by a stub of a ruler, their loyalty to each other is sorely tested. This is a cleverly written book that is likely to appeal to middle grade boys in particular although it was not my cup of tea. Too many characters moved in and moved out of the bizarre terrain, and it was hard to like anyone other than Brian and Gregory.
May 26, 2012
How can I explain this book? It's scary this entire series makes me tense and parts of each have made me have to put the book down breathe skip ahead and check to see if my favorite people are not dead. This book takes place in a rather claustrophobic setting the inside of a great beast. Brian and Gregory have gone through a portal to try to get help from the 'good' guys to stop the Thrusser horde from taking over the world and merging people with their homes. The help they find is apathetic and jaded descendants of gods who only want to have parties. The threat to the world is brought to the forefront with the cuts to two people left in the suburbs on earth that the thrusser are assimilating.
A book series for the 6th grader and up who is looking for something different and dark. Loves the unique and macabre I can't wait for the next book.
A book series for the 6th grader and up who is looking for something different and dark. Loves the unique and macabre I can't wait for the next book.
July 26, 2016
The Empire of Gut and Bone is the third book of the Norumbegan Quartet by M.T. Anderson, coming after The Game of Sunken Places and its sequel The Suburb Beyond the Stars. Unfortunately, it has many of the same problems as those first two books, which led to my ranking them relatively poorly. Which is a shame, because there are some good ideas at the core of this series, such as this book’s setting, and Anderson has shown himself to be capable of simply great work in the Octavian Nothing books.
At the end of The Suburb Beyond the Stars, the two main characters, Brian and Gregory — along with the automaton troll named Kalgrash whom Brian has befriended and Gregory hates — had stepped through a portal to ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
At the end of The Suburb Beyond the Stars, the two main characters, Brian and Gregory — along with the automaton troll named Kalgrash whom Brian has befriended and Gregory hates — had stepped through a portal to ... Read More: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...
June 11, 2016
Ever felt like reading a political drama/murder mystery featuring androids and elves and set inside the cavernous body of a slumbering beast from another dimension? Well here you go.
I had a harder time getting into this book than the previous two, mostly because I had little patience for the political aspects and the story and found the setting a bit too squishy and oozing. I enjoyed the writing and humor though, and think its worth picking up if you've read the first two books.
I had a harder time getting into this book than the previous two, mostly because I had little patience for the political aspects and the story and found the setting a bit too squishy and oozing. I enjoyed the writing and humor though, and think its worth picking up if you've read the first two books.
February 14, 2016
In the book Empire of Gut and Bone, Brain and Gregory go to a place called Norumbega and they seek help from an alien attack in earth. But instead they end up being caught in a robot rebellion and a murder mystery. Norumbega is a dangerous place and they would both be super lucky to make it out alive.
August 30, 2011
Talk about a convoluted, overly complicated "mystery" that isn't really all that interesting. Also how many more books will there be in this series?! The story is far from being over. I'm done reading them, though; it's just not good enough to keep going.
May 29, 2012
I received this book for free from a giveaway at Teenreads.com. I liked the book fairly well, but I can tell I am misssing a lot because I have not read the first 2 books in the series. Sarcastic and funny.
February 18, 2016
Very creative, an enjoyable adventure, although I think it could have been a little shorter, as the characters spent a lot of time in one place, not doing too much. I'm looking forward to the last book in the series.
April 3, 2015
Age 9-12 boys will adore this book! Gut and Bone indeed! Adventure in it's most disgusting bodily form will keep them reading.
May 26, 2013
This book should have only taken me a couple of days. Very entertaining and funny.
March 12, 2014
Not as good as Suburb, but not bad.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews