(WARNING! THIS BLOG HAS MANY MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE KINGDOM OF FANTASY SERIES. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK)
Hey everyone! If you remember from the last blog, I talked about the last choice on the list of book series I hate: Geronimo Stilton: The Kingdom of Fantasy.
The series is written by… Geronimo Stilton, duh (the series is actually written by a lady named Elisabetta Dami, Geronimo Stilton is just her pen name). The famous author also writes the series Geronimo Stilton, which has been adapted to a TV series.
I really loved the Geronimo Stilton series! I grew up with the TV show as a kid. Seriously, the theme song was a BANGER!
Who’s the mouse who’s smart and witty
Scoops the news for New Mouse City?
GE! RON! I! MOOOOOOOOO!
… okay anyway-
As also many of you know, I like fantasy books! I love series that involve magical creatures, dragons, shapeshifters, even my favorite video games (Kid Icarus Uprising, Fire Emblem Engage) are in the fantasy genre in a way!
So when I heard as a kid that there was a Geronimo Stilton fantasy series, my kid heart exploded. I read those books every time we can to the library! I even still have one of the special editions of the series in my house library (the second one, called The Dragon of Fortune!)
Fast forward to many years later (i.e a few weeks ago). I see some parts of the series on Sora. For those who don’t know, Sora is a eBook app where students can read books from their online library! I decided to read the series again, for old times sake, and oh my gosh.
This series is the WORST fantasy series I’ve read in my life.
It’s not down there with The Water Dragon’s Bride (manga) and Our Drawings (movie) as some of the worst fantasy works I have ever seen, but it is bad. But why do I hate this series so much? Well, this is what the purpose of this blog is! I also did read the rest of the series for quite some time (hate reading them books!), so this is why I know so much about the books! Now, without further ado…
1. The Many, Many, Many, Characters
You know how some shows have so many characters, that it’s almost impossible to even try counting them? That’s basically The Kingdom of Fantasy in a nutshell. But what separates The Simpsons from The Kingdom of Fantasy? Both are pieces of media that have so many characters, so why do I like one but not the other?
Well, The Simpsons does have many characters, but they aren’t used often! Some are only used when a joke is played and others are a major part of the story in each episode. The Kingdom of Fantasy does something vastly different: it uses characters, then introduces new ones. Even when it’s unnecessary to do so!
There was this time during the series (specifically the 11th book, The Guardian of the Realm) where they put too many people in the adventuring party.
How many? Well, how about a frog (Scribblehopper, he’s been there since the first book!), a group of shapeshifting gossip girls (Wolfy, Roxy Foxy, Beartina and Owlivia), seven wizards that can turn into dragon knights (The Von Wild Brothers), a lonely wizard (named Selfie, but then I guess the author forgot his name so it was changed to Solo), a mosquito fairy (Mosquitina), and a tiny mini-dragon (Bluewing). Guess what percentage of them have a significant part in the plot.
Only a few of them! This is why people shouldn’t make too many characters for their books! But sometimes the series make characters that are too similar to previous characters! Don’t know what I mean?
Well, in the 13th book (The Battle for the Crystal Castle), they introduce a greedy but good-hearted fox merchant named Foxylynn. There doesn’t seem to be a problem in that… until you realize that in the 2ND SPECIAL EDITION (which was released 4 years before the 13th book, again called The Dragon of Fortune), THERE WAS A RAVEN CHARACTER (Cleverwing) WHO WAS BASICALLY THAT!! IT’S OKAY TO REUSE YOUR CHARACTERS! STOP MAKING NEW ONES!!!
2. The Plot Holes/Continuity Errors
Imagine you are watching Spider Man. And then comes the part when Spidey explains how he got his powers. But every movie, the origin story keeps changing and moving around like liquid helium. Like this:
Citizen: >excited< Oh, Spider Man! You are so cool! How did you get your powers?
Spider Man: >smiling< I got bitten by a radioactive spider!
Citizen: >pumps fists< That’s SO COOL!
Spider Man: >still smiling< My father was half spider!
Citizen: >face of bewilderment< Wait, what?
Spider Man: >still smiling< I was killed in some other universe and was reborn in this world with powers of a spider’s!
Citizen: >now very confused, about to cry< But…Bu…B.. WHICH ONE IS IT!!!
See how confusing it is? Those are SO many parts in The Kingdom of Fantasy in a nutshell. For those who don’t know any trope definitions, a plot hole is an inconsistency that occurs in the story. And believe me, The Kingdom of Fantasy has too many of them.
There was a character (named Thunderhorn) in the third book (The Amazing Voyage) who was said to be the King of the Elves. He was also mysterious shapeshifter that only appeared in deer form to his peers, making his true form a secret.
Then, in the fourth book (The Dragon Prophecy), it apparently turns out that Thunderhorn is under a CURSE that makes him a deer. So they just threw out the shapeshifter stuff out the window. Great.
It gets worse from there. Again, in the eleventh book (a reminder, The Guardian of the Realm), there is a part of the book where Geronimo gets the ability to turn into a dragoning (which, in the series lore, is a light dragon). He later uses it to go back to the real world, stop Wither (queen of the Witches) and later travel back to the titular Kingdom of Fantasy for another adventure, which is how the book ends…
How does the twelfth (The Island of Dragons) start out? Well, somehow, Geronimo is at a dance party, gets knocked out, and goes to the Kingdom of Fantasy again! What happened to the dragoning thing?! What happened to the Bright Empire, Mel the Magnificent, Wolfy and other beloved characters? We get no answer for that. Definitely made me disappointed.
Lastly, the newest books even have Queen Blossom and many more of the main cast replaced with a new set of characters and… WHO IS THIS QUEEN IMAGINARIA LADY??? WHY MUST THIS HAPPEN???!!
3. The Botched-Up Logic and Missed Opportunities
Botched-up logic can be found in any piece of media (Arthur having headphones not covering on his ears, The Powerpuff Girls being able to pick things up despite their lack of fingers, etc), but The Kingdom of Fantasy has many missed opportunities and botched-up logic.
First, there is a part where a giant (Strongheart) can’t cross a bridge.
…Dude. You’re big enough to just walk over it. So just do that and STOP GETTING STUCK IN THE RAVINE!!!
Another piece of botched up logic is why characters like Wither come flying on a broom or Winglet comes on her tiger. But both of them are fairies, and they both have wings… so why can’t they just fly to get to places? It makes better sense! So why don’ they do that!!???
Not to mention, at the start of The Dragon of Fortune, Scribblehopper and Geronimo’s other friends from the Kingdom of Fantasy come on a white owl (later revealed to be Owlivia). But Scribblehopper actually has a daughter (Scarlethopper) that can turn into a PHEONIX at will (as a result of partially bracking a curse cast by the former Queen of the Witches, Cackle)! They could have included Scarlethopper instead of a new character! Which would make sense since the first special of the series has a title that references her phoenix form (The Phoenix of Destiny).
4. Geronimo’s Torture
Our mouse main character seems to always be a punching bag to many of the characters in the series, whether it’s getting stepped on the tail, hit over the head and even almost falling off certain rides! Poor Geronimo can’t catch a break!
So, overall, do I hate this series? Yes. Do I hate it enough to curse Stilton to not go on any fantasy adventures ever again and burn the books at Kilauea?
…No, actually.
As dumb as I feel the series is, I love some parts of the series! The graphics are breathtaking and beautifully crafted, the concepts of each book is good (but suffers to mid writing). My favorite book has to be the seventh (The Enchanted Charms).
I will never forget the moment when Blizzard the White Wolf howled at the sky, revealing all the stars, letting Geronimo pick one out! Another moment is when a comet (that Geronimo rides on to get another charm) turns into a BEAUTIFUL LADY. You will never find a book or any other piece of media that has anything like that (except for Yvaine from the movie Stardust).
So overall, the series is a 4.75/10. Pretty bad, but not that bad enough to make me put it any lower.
You can read the series if you want. Happy reading, I guess.
– Nova S.
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