Georgie Summers and the Scribes of Scatterplot is the first book in a middle grade fantasy series by Isaac Rudansky. Released 4th February 2025 by indie publisher Greenleaf, it's 392 pages and is available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.
This is a very high-stakes thrilling adventure tale full of scary hiss-worthy bad guys, ineffectual adults, and heroic kids. Georgie is a 6th grade everyman (everykid?) character, slogging through school with an antagonistic teacher, a dependable best friend (who also doesn't have the best homelife) and a new friend who's likeable (even though she's a *girl*) and who's in the mold of Hermione Grainger. His dad drops a bombshell about he and Georgie not even being from earth, and about that time creepy villains start showing up, there's a glowing artifact, and his dad gets kidnapped!
It's packed with adventure, and some of the scenes are on the edge of actually scary. There are touches of humor throughout and the author has a wry touch with character names (like Fumbluff, Eldritch, etc... Very Dickensian).
There are codes and mysteries to solve in addition to the rollicking adventure (which ends on a HUGE cliffhanger, fair warning).
Four and a half stars. It would make a good choice for public or secondary school library, with the understanding that some scenes in the book are quite squishy and disgusting. Recommended for fans of Rick Riordan, Kelley Armstrong, and Brandon Mull.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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