dboorn23's review

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3.0

A good reason why it’s maybe not a good idea to revisit your youth. My primary school had a whole bunch of Agaton Sax books in the library. Not to blow my own trumpet, but I was a fairly advanced reader at the time and these books seemed the size of War & Peace compared to the rest of the phonetic picture books about clowns and camping or whatever. I loved them; devoured them all within days of each other. So, do they hold up you (don’t) ask?

Nah. They’re clearly intended for smart-ish 8 year olds (aka normal 10 year olds) and barely make any sense. They’re simple, borderline incoherent and frankly a waste of anyone old enough not stick crayons up their nose’s time. I spent years trying to remember this series but it was probably best left as a warm memory (see also Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors cartoon from 1986, the fucking bomb when you’re 6, fucking bollocks when you’re 31).

I rate it 3/5 as I realise I’m probably not the target audience and I’d recommend it to a suitably aged kid as a fun read. Gotta be better than whatever shit about gender fluidity they’re probably trying to get kids to read these days. 1.5/5 if you’re an adult with little free time and every book has to count and bear in mind that’s only because the Quentin Blake illustrations throughout are genuinely timeless.
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