The Abominable Sruvius-Glen Solosky

	Title: The Abominable Sruvius Author: Glen Solosky Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy Format & Pages: Ebook, 215 Publication: Self-Published, 2012 Source: Author Rating:

Ravma Sruvius, believed to be responsible for thousands of deaths, is the most hated figure in the history of the Var dominion.

According to legend, he built a secret weapon high in the loft of his mysterious laboratory, and used it to sink half the royal navy. He was captured soon after, but even dungeon walls couldn’t stop the rat-like villain from vanishing without a trace.

Now, twenty years later, after young Bergey Fenwick and his friends overhear a plot of invasion against their kingdom, they uncover a trail of clues leading to the only person who can save them—Ravma Sruvius himself. More powerful than ever, he now controls forces that make his last weapon look like a popgun by comparison.

But can Sruvius—callous, twisted, possessed of an overriding hatred for the king—be coerced into using his incredible scientific genius to save the dominion, or is he bent on destroying it?

Or is it possible that he has an entirely different agenda—something no one could ever have guessed?

Glen Solosky’s debut novel, The Abominable Sruvius, is quite an imaginative tale. The opening chapter caught my attention right away. It endeared me to Bergey, the main character, with his amazing ability to solve problems that others could not. His plight really pulled me through the whole story and kept me wanting to read. Most of the characters were well fleshed out, but some of them were rather lacking in personality. These characters were mostly secondary, though, and did not impact the reading that much.

The illustrations at the beginning of the chapters are simple and well done. I liked that they were black and white instead of color. It adds to the story in an unobtrusive way and helped to heighten the imagery.

The plot itself is rather good. It keeps a quick pace for most of the book with only a few dull spots throughout the first ½ of the book. There the chapters are a bit on the long side for my taste and seem to drag. Once you get past that it really heats up, especially with the introduction of Sruvius. There the plot starts to twist, and twist again, and twist some more. There were so many twists it made me feel like I was reading a mystery, which I quite enjoyed. The ending was a big surprise as well and completely caught me off guard.

Overall, I found it to be a nice quick read that child or adult will enjoy. It had color characters and interesting locations. The mystery and intrigue pulls along the reader through the dull spots until you hit the surprise ending.