Review by Booklist Review
Scrawny, bespectacled Ronan Boyle is an intern with the Irish Garda who is endeavoring to clear the names of his jailed, art-curator parents. It's a surprise, then, when he gets assigned to the secret unit of Tir Na Nog that oversees Ireland's underground land of wee folk: faeries, leprechauns, churichauns, harpies, etc. His supervisor, Captain de Valera, selects him because, even though he's a beefie (human), he's the thinnest person on payroll, meaning he's small enough to enter the magical world. Ronan's job in the wee folk's land is to maintain order, solve crimes, and put criminals behind bars. In this first adventure, actor and humorist Lennon introduces readers to a bright, but also endearingly bumbling, tween protagonist and a fantasy faerie land filled with strange characters. He frames the narrative as Ronan's case notes, which include detailed (and entertaining) footnotes throughout. Ronan, thrust from one adventure to another and always thinking of his parents, fulfills his police duties above all else. A hilarious, otherworldly book perfect for fans of Kate Thompson's The New Policeman (2007).--J. B. Petty Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this tongueincheek middle grade adventure, 15yearold Ronan Boyle is tapped to join the Garda Special Unit of Tir Na Nog, an elite division of the Irish police dedicated to handling supernaturalrelated incidents, such as those involving leprechauns, trolls, and changelings. Determined to prove that his incarcerated parents were framed for the theft of a mummified "Bog Man," Ronan pursues his law enforcement career with an eye toward finding the true culprit. First, however, he must survive the harrowing training process, which includes learning Shillelagh Safety and Combat as well as Weaponized Poetry. His greatest test comes when his team is sent to investigate reports of a harpy, a mission that goes disastrously wrong. Actor/screenwriter Lennon (the Night at the Museum series) makes a spirited debut with this mythologyladen tale, but his comic voice suffers from an overload of jokes, quips, and ludicrous situations. Every page is littered with clever asides or helpful footnotes, making it difficult for the reader to consider one before moving on to the next. Even so, the memorable voice and playful sensibility make this an entertaining series opener. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 10-14. Agent: Stephanie Rostan, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-At the age of 14, Ronan Boyle is the youngest recruit to the Garda Special Unit of Tir Na Nog, the Irish law enforcement agency tasked with investigating crimes involving the wee folk. While Ronan enrolls in the Garda as a means of finding evidence to free his parents, museum curators framed for the theft of an artifact, he learns that chasing after law-breaking faeries and other magical beings is not for the faint-at-heart. Ronan's training includes shillelagh class and weaponized poetry, as well as tin whistling for beginners; he needs all these skills and more when he and his captain set out to catch some leprechaun wine thieves. After encountering a dizzying array of faeries, and with the aid of a smarter-than-average Irish wolfhound police dog, the criminals are apprehended and Ronan returns to the human world with a lead on his parents' case. In the author's forward, Lennon states this book is his "love letter to Douglas Adams," and his efforts to emulate Adams' linguistic zaniness are evident throughout the book. However, Adams' genius is a challenging muse to follow, and this story reads like frenetic slapstick. Additionally, Lennon relies on the stereotypical trope of the Irish fondness for alcohol, and an overabundance of footnotes slows the pacing. VERDICT While the premise of the series is enticing, this first entry has trouble finding its voice. Hand readers Eoin Colfer's "Artemis Fowl" series instead.-Nancy Nadig, Penn Manor School District, Lancaster, PA © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A 15-year-old recruit becomes the newest faerie-fighter in Ireland in the first of a series, Lennon's debut.After the imprisonment of his parents, curators at the National Museum of Ireland wrongfully accused of stealing the Bog Man by shady art dealer Lord Desmond Dooley, young Ronan Boyle is taken in by a sympathetic member of the Galway garda as an intern in the evidence department. Being skinny, Boyle is summoned to a castle ruin to rescue a changeling baby that a leprechaun has thrown down an oubliette. His success leads to his recruitment by the Garda Special Unit of Tir Na Nog, the Irish land of faeries. After a required course of study that includes tin whistle, he embarks on a series of adventures that eventually point in the general direction of the Bog Man and his parents' fate. They don't arrive there, but they're heading that way, and it's the vagueness of Boyle's quest and the plot as a whole that are the novel's primary weaknesses. Dry Irish humor and relentless wackiness are its primary strengths; with lines like "Pat Finch is what a heart attack would look like if it could walk around eating fish-and-chips and saying terrible things about Roscommon Football Club's starting lineup," the joy is in the journey, not the destination. The cast is default white, with diversity mostly of the nonhuman variety.As flavorful as the strongest Irish stout, though equally an acquired taste. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
