Wednesday, April 15, 2015

M is for The Measure of Temperance by Ichabod Temperance



“...Moan...” 
“Are you well, Mr. Temperance?” 
“Hunh? Oh, yes, Ma'am, Miss Plumtartt, Ma'am, it's just that since we find ourselves stranded on this voodoo-drenched Carribean island, I thought it might be a good idea to practice acting like a mobile corpse, cause it's looking like we are up to our armpits in dead folks walking. My suspicion is that they're wanting to snack on our gray matter.” 
“Indeed, Mr. Temperance, for I fear that if you, I, and our compatriots are not successful on this escapade, the entire planet could be threatened by cadaver cataclysm, eh hem?” 
“Yes, Ma'am, Miss Plumtartt, Ma'am, and don't let the singing and dancing fool you. This here adventure is full of scary circumstances, Ma'am, and that's a fact!”



Ichabod Temperance and Persephone Plumtartt are once again caught up in a whirlwind of excitement and danger! New friends and old join our plucky heroes as they struggle to protect planet Earth from unspeakable ruin in the form of an overwhelming zombie cataclysm!
What's this? In the midst of their most trying ordeal, Icky and Persephone have a tiff? Certainly, this is a novel full of calamity


My Review:

Yes, I enjoyed this episode of Ichabod and Miss Temperance's  as well as the rest. I do feel the need to mention something in this review that I haven't mentioned before.   All of the books in The Adventure of Ichabod Temperance series are stand alone. I think it became more apparent with this one than any of the rest, which is why it occurs to mention it now. The adventures in this 'episode' are more centered on a few characters we have met before. If you haven't read the previous books, while I personally think you will be missing out, you won't feel lost or as if something is missing because you didn't meet these characters already.  I think this is a pretty good feat to pull off since there are so many books in the series so far. I think that is due to two things. One is that there are no cliffie endings to any  of the books. Two is the author fills us in on the more pertinent details from previous novels without feeling as if he is info dumping. Again, this doesn't mean I think  you should skip the rest of the books in the series, or read them out of order. but by reading this review the biggest spoiler you might get about previous books in the series is that Mr. Temperance and Miss. Plumtarrt are still alive and adventuring.

Now on to the rest of my opinion of The Measure of Temperance.

As I said before the reader is reunited with some previous friends of Temperance and Persephone. Yes, this has happened in other books, but in this case without some of the previous characters there would be no story. I'm not going into more detail because I don't want to spoil anything.

Unlike the previous book in the series Measure is not a full as pop culture references. But they are still there. The fun word play is still there as well.  I will say that the authors writing has slowly evolved over the previous books. In the original Temperance adventure we are carried through the story by the pov of Mr. Temperance and Miss. Plumtarrt. This changed over the following novels and in this one the story is told not only from their pov, but also from their friends and enemies povs. Another thing that has changed is that the descriptions are now fully coming from the voices of the characters themselves.  No matter what is going on it is being described aloud by the characters taking part in the scene. So very rarely is there someone not talking.  The odd thing is, that while it sounds like it wouldn't work, it does.    I think that the main reason it works so well is because the book, while not chock full of one liners and references as previous books, it still doesn't take itself too seriously.

Also in this book the romance between our two main characters is threatened! I have to say my heart went out to poor Icky more than it did to his lady love. But I DID understand the issues leading up to the misunderstanding between the two. ****Spoiler Alert**** While their misunderstanding is not resolved quite the way the romantic in me would wish.  It was resolved in a way that is perfect for Ichabod and Persephone. It is the perfect example of their sweet romance. ****End Spoiler Alert**** 

I think if  you have enjoyed the previous books then this one is definitely going to be a winner for  you. If you haven't read any of Ichabod's adventures yet I think that you can still enjoy it.  However I highly recommend you read the series from the beginning so you don't miss out on any of the fun. 




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I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

2 comments:

  1. Yay!
    Thank you for reading 'Measure'!
    I am happy that you are enjoying the series!
    Cheers, Aimee!
    Your pal,
    ~Icky.
    :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for writing such an enjoyable series!

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