Jayson’s Reviews > The Ickabog > Status Update

Notes:
(1) In the ending "Happily Ever After" utopia, the king is replaced with an elected Prime Minister.
- Though, it should really be a President since Prime Ministers aren't directly elected but lead parliamentary majorities.
(2) Ickabogs seem more like phoenixes than anything.
- Death is necessary for (re)birth, they self-reproduce, and memories/knowledge is inherited.

Notes:
(1) We get a five-year time jump. I'm no fan of time jumps, though it doesn't seem like anything of note actually happened.
- Narratively speaking, its only utility is to age people up.
(2) It's getting like Gotham City with the amount of orphans of murdered parents!
- It's the seeds of vigilantism being planted. Bert and Roderick were already motivated by vengeance.

Notes:
(1) "As Chouxville remained quite rich and bustling ... the other Cornucopian cities were all full of beggars and boarded-up shops, because the two lords and Roach had stolen so much gold from the people."
- Huh, I guess taxation really is theft! Alternatively, the narrator's a libertarian.
- I wonder why Chouxville is so prosperous? Surely they must pay the tax too.

Notes:
(1) All the names here seem to be alliterative.
- Well, except for Nobby Buttons, which may be a telltale sign he's not actually real.
(2) "Daisy gulped down a small bowl of cabbage soup, which was the nastiest thing she'd ever eaten..."
- Cabbage gets a terrible rap! It's only ever mentioned as something that smells bad, tastes bad or is thrown at accused criminals.

Notes:
(1) Lord Spittleworth: "It's one of those extraordinary, unbelievable ideas that only the very cleverest people can grasp, whereas common folk — stupid folk, sire — giggle and laugh at the notion."
- Yes, how very "The Emperor's New Clothes." In this case, the invisible fabric is the concept that "killing an Ickabog causes two new Ickabogs to emerge from the corpse."

Notes:
(1) This book sort of straddles the line between children's and middle-grade fiction.
- Frankly, I'd call it a full-on children's book if not for all the death and murder!
(2) Prediction: The two widowed parents will marry each other and therefore join families.
- Granted, this is a re-read for me, but I genuinely don't remember a thing from the first time I read it.

Notes:
(1) Looks like Audible spared no expense on the production. Not only do we get rather cinematic and seemingly original music to start, it's narrated by Stephen Fry!
- Both add a sense of gravitas that was frankly absent when I read the hardcover, which was illustrated via children's art contest.
- It's super-weird hearing Fry's Dobby voice used for another character.

Notes:
(1) Frankly, I don't remember a thing about this from when I first read it... well, except for all the controversy and friends I lost here for simply deciding to read the book.
- Such was the firestorm I was embroiled in that I forewent my usual progress updates, as not to provide daily fodder for hostiles to hijack.
- There will be progress updates this time though.