Queen of Muck
Isaac Thackray
Mary Egan Publishing
Pub. 2021

March 7, 2022

Queen of Muck by Isaac Thackray is sure to make you laugh.

Lily and Lucy live with their grandad until he disappears. The girls search for him upon discovering a clue he left before he went missing. They find themselves in a fantastical land with talking animals, feminine brutes acting as bodyguards, and a queen with a terrible reputation.

These two ordinary girls embark on a thrilling adventure as they journey to find their grandad. I wish the girls had a bigger role: they lead the adventure unwaveringly, yet I wanted to see them do more.

The best part about the author’s writing was his ability to incorporate humour. This humour manifested best in the Queen of Muck character. Honestly, even though she is the villain, the Queen was by far my favourite character because she developed the most and made me laugh the most. She is no doubt inspired by the phrase ‘Lady Muck’ – she is arrogant and pretentious, yet she is also disgustingly twisted. In Queen Deidre’s kingdom, rain is brown, and skies are grey, because “lovely sights made her sick, and even caused her to vomit.”

The target audience is most likely going to be 5- 14-year-olds. If you like comedy adventure plots, like in The Wizard of Oz, Roald Dahl’s works, and Dora the Explorer (especially for the willful female protagonists), you will enjoy this fun-filled adventure.

I think the author was able to make an entertaining book with two girls at the forefront of the story. But the best part is the bizarre and hilarious scenarios that his characters, mainly the queen, manage to find themselves in. Nothing made me laugh more than the famous violinist’s solo piece which again, was too lovely for the queen. The music was “so beautiful any normal person would have been moved to tears. But not Queen Diedre. She was moved to vomit.”

The author created a perfectly silly plot, set in a land with flying bicycles, talking flowers, and giant pit of nothingness. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a laugh and an imaginative story.

• Trillion is 15 and lives in Auckland.