TL;DR Review: How to Train Your Dragon with the flavor of A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking. Good, clean comedic fantasy fun.
Synopsis:
It begins and ends, as things do, with a girl throwing a birthday party for a dragon. Or it would, if things were ever that simple.
Generations ago, the Inquisition of the Priory of the Thrice-Dead Prophet decided that dragons were a great evil and it was their duty to banish them from the land of Nóra. The dragons weren’t (they just grew tired of the bother and migrated north), and the Inquisition didn’t (they just pretended otherwise), but that’s beside the point.
Though evidence of dragons still existed, it remained within the realm of smugglers, ne’er-do-wells, and people with too much time and money on their hands…until a hatching egg finds its way into the hands of a young girl named Ailís.
Now, with the first newborn dragon seen in generations in her company, Ailís finds herself beset by merchants, brigands, Inquisitors, and a greedy governor, and all she wants to do is throw a birthday party for her dragon.
And you thought planning a party for your kids was tough.
Full Review:
Upscaled tells the story of Ailis, a wildly precocious like child who “finds” a dragon egg (through absolutely no fault or any kind of prank of her own) and brings it home. Before her poor, exasperated Ma can tell her they can’t keep it, well out hatches the dragon and the mayhem begins.
Ailis and her wisely-named dragon, Pilib, will face all manner of dangers—from poorly baked goods to even more poorly trained agents of the local Inquisition, from blossoming magical abilities to the absolute travesty that is putting vegetables in pies. She, Ma, and Cam, her brother, find themselves swept up on a very small-scale adventure that takes them from their home deep into a mystical fae forest and beyond, perhaps even to encountering the terrifying and evil (as the Inquisition rightly proves in their abundance of literature) dragons.
I fell in love with the cheeky, sharp, humorous, Pratchett-esque flavor of the world from the first page. Yes, it’s a bit silly, but in the best way possible.
Ailis is a whirlwind in a bottle, a force of pure chaos who can’t seem to understand why her actions could possibly have consequences or why her Ma is so exhausted, annoyed, and frustrated with her at all times. She is utterly well-meaning but simply clueless to why she is the source of so many problems. And when she realizes it? Well, she just brushes it off as “no big deal” and continues skipping her merry way through life.
She reminds me of Pippi Longstockings a great deal, with the same unshakable enthusiasm and verve for life that not even the possibility of death or an extra helping of broccoli can sway. With her, you never really know what she’s going to do next, but you know that A) she absolutely means no harm by it, and B) it’s going to cause a great deal of problems for everyone around her.
The agents of the big bad Inquisition were another hilarious addition to the world. In the opening pages, we feel the menace they radiate, how the world is crushed under their heel and forced to obey their stringent laws. But as we get to meet more of them, see how they operate, even come face to face with their highest-ranking, most powerful and influential members, we come to see their…well, I suppose hapless ineptitude is the best way I could describe it.
Upscaled is a great deal of fun, with a light-hearted, humorous tone that had me chuckling or laughing in every chapter. Don’t go into it expecting an epic story, but be prepared to marvel at just how much trouble Ailis can get herself into—and the wondrous ways she can talk, run, eat, or think her way back out again.
If How to Train Your Dragon had babies with A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, it would be this book.
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