A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill adeptly mixes Monty Pythonesque surrealism with slapstick humor for a wonderfully crafted young adult fantasy adventure that explores the blurry divide between reality and make-believe.

In the Dream World, Vile, the dream ambassador of nightmares, has seized the Palace of Somnium from Mr.Good, the dream ambassador of tranquil and pleasant dreams.

Mr. Good has developed digital technology called “the Dreamscaper” to create three-dimensional dreamspaces, which Vile covets for malicious purposes. Mr. Good summons sixteen-year-old high school students Lorraine and Melvin into the Dream World, hoping to use the teens’ logical problem-solving skills to reclaim his palace from Vile.

With help from a diverse cast of characters, Lorraine and Melvin must use their smarts—and the code words “penguin rolling downhill”—to maneuver Dream Span’s many psychedelic pathways in order to reach Lord Riddle’s mythical Land of Nod, or risk sacrificing the physical world to Vile’s nightmarish tyranny.

The narrative knits together characters from historical, mythical, and fairy tale genres into a weirdly inventive 1970s-like fantasy that funkily works.

There is the fantastical backstory for the disappearance of real-life Captain Benjamin Briggs and his crew near the Strait of Gibraltar in 1872; a diversionary evil sidekick in the vein of one of the Disney Minions, funny in his illfated attempts to please his over-the-top evil boss; a disco-loving wizard by the name of Mugwump (a trippy nod to Harry Potter fans); and the obvious plays on good (Mr. Good) versus evil (Vile).

Tranter riffs on the concept of a holographic world in the form of a dreamspace—similar to a theme park as imagined in Jurassic Park or an episode of Westworld. He also incorporates a Wizard of Oz-like theme: a foursome traveling down a green corridor in search of the mysterious Lord Riddle who will send Lorraine and Melvin home.

Tranter’s witty play on language is at once old-fashioned and reminiscent of the best Monty Python skits, mixing silly and smart, absurdity and common sense, into effective storytelling, as with Mr. Good’s “How fortuitously marvellous and marvellously fortuitous to bump into you, old chum.” The invented language Daftness is itself is a tongue-twisting play of seemingly unsolvable riddles. This wordsmithing contributes to the psychedelic, fairy-tale aspect of the story and to the flow of the narrative.

A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill is a highly entertaining adventure that will carry equal appeal for old and young with its wink-and-smile brand of slapstick humor.

Reviewed by: Thomas Macolino

Kevin Tranter’s debut novel, “A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill,” captures one’s imagination by contradicting common sense yet remains perfectly logical and analytical. Tranter offers us a view of a surreal landscape full of rich characters with creative minds which would make any middle school teacher weep for joy. Drawing upon a rich history of novels like “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Phantom Tollbooth,” Tranter takes the reader on a journey through the dimension of dreams, where dream actors perform for the people of Earth under the watchful supervision of Dream Ambassadors Mr. Good and Vile.

When Vile forcibly ejects Mr. Good from his Palace of Somnium and plans to fill the Earth with endless nightmares, Mr. Good concocts a plan to summon the rational and analytical Lorraine and Melvin to help him regain control of his home. But not everything is as it seems. Memory loss, unhelpful inner monologues, and personality changes plague Vile and his crew. While Keith, a suspicious Boy Scout, has been summoned from Earth, although no one seems to know why. In a plot with as many twists and turns as the Royal Blue Labyrinth, Tranter’s novel is sure to keep the reader guessing until the very last page. The novel’s mix of daft riddles, absurd characters’ and antics are sure to keep a small smile on any reader’s face throughout.

“A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill” does an excellent job diverging from its ancestors. While a wonderful novel in its own right, many other stories in this genre often reduce characters to nothing more than a single trait or gimmick. Although Tranter’s novel does not give us the back story of every single minor character, as no novel could, he brings a depth of character development to a pinnacle of imagination. For example, even the Muscular Guards have personalities and fears. The Dragon has a history, and a first name (it’s Derek). Every character is complex, despite being in a world full of dreams, utterly real.

The plot and characters are the novel’s greatest strength. “A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill” is filled with cunning, vivacious characters. Yet their choices ultimately don’t seem to matter. There is a theme of inexorable fate running throughout the story. Characters seem less likely making their own decisions and more like they are following a path which has already been laid out for them. There is no problem too small that it cannot be solved with a deus ex machina; no clever scheme the villain can make which wasn’t foreshadowed before he even thought of it.

Overall, “A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill” is very much like a fun dream. It is interesting, entertaining, and bizarre, even if all the important decisions seem to be made behind the scenes without any of the dream actors having a say. Like being on a fanciful roller- coaster, readers will have to fasten their seatbelts when opening this book – knowing this will begin a ride of a memorable book ahead.

A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill
by Kevin Tranter
AuthorHouse
 

reviewed by Yuliya Geikhman

"Tables were sent flying, tops of heads were hit by chairs, eyes were blackened, and noses were bloodied. The proprietor of the establishment tried, in vain, to restore order. Amidst all the bedlam he appealed to their better nature. Unfortunately, none of his patrons had one."

A Penguin Rolling Down a Hill is every bit as playful as the title implies. Full of jokes, silliness, and a strange and wonderful cast of characters, this adventure will delight young adult readers. A serious danger has overcome the world of dreams and its inhabitants, which spells trouble for humans around the world, or at least the ones that sleep. The nefarious Vile has banished dream ambassador Mr. Good from his rightful place in the Palase of Somnium, where Vile and his henchmen plan to unleash a collective nightmare of epic proportions on all unsuspecting dreamers. Luckily, Mr. Good has a plan. Two teenagers, one boy scout, and an ailing grandfather are summoned to the world of dreams. Working together, this unlikely group of heroes must travel through the labyrinths of Limbo and defeat Vile before he has a chance to unleash his terrible nightmare on the world.

The unabashedly silly adventure is written with all the whimsy of a children's book but with tone and craft perfect for a young adult audience. Quirky characters color the pages, including two perpetually bickering giants, a friendly dragon named Derek, ghosts who are really dream actors whose names are definitely not Norman, and an incompetent henchman addicted to riddles—to name just a few. If The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had been set in the dream world instead of outer space, the result would be this book. The journey does have its serious moments of peril and growth, but even amidst grave dangers the delightful writing style doesn't falter. Although geared toward a younger audience, this will elicit a chuckle from readers of any age—provided that they're sufficiently in touch with their inner child.

RECOMMENDED by the US Review