He's filtered that scholarly knowledge through his crazy (I don't mean that in a bad way) brain and given us this great book. Jeremy is a scholar of imaginary worlds and he knows that in those worlds anything goes. I think she probably let Jeremy watch cartoons and movies, let him play video games, and encouraged him to read anything he could get his hands on. I have a feeling she's a pretty cool lady. I would also like to thank Jeremy’s mother. In the first line of the acknowledgements page of Toonopolis: Gemini author Jeremy Rodden thanks his family and “especially” his mother. A second excursion, I think, would be tiresome. Once was fun, but felt more like an extended joke than a novel. I just don't know that I’m that interested in seeing more of the Tooniverse. The ending sets up for a sequel, which may be part of the reason I’m so lukewarm on this book. Anime.) Rodden does a fine job of poking fun at the various tropes of each. My favorite moments were the parts parodying some of my favorite types of cartoons: The Adventure Realm (speaking of video games …), Supercity (comic book superheroes), and Animetown (duh. Jacob goes on a quest, collects companions and items, all building to a big boss fight at the end … In some ways it feels more like a video game-say, Kingdom Hearts, for instance-than a book. The book reads well enough, though there's a sense that Jacob is journeying more so that the author can show us the various areas of the Tooniverse than anything else. The rest of the book deals with his pursuit of Shadowy Figure and the areas and beings he encounters along the way. He regains some of his memories upon battling a being made entirely of shadows. At first he has no memory of who he is or how he got there. Jacob Grenk, a young teenage boy has his consciousness transferred to the Tooniverse, a strange realm where, essentially, cartoons are reality. I hope you have as much fun as I do.įull disclosure: I won a free Kindle copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. It is a lofty goal, indeed, but the only goals that will invariably be unachievable are the ones that are not set. They were able to create magical worlds that readers of all ages enjoy, which is exactly what I want to achieve with Toonopolis. Lewis and Lewis Carroll as my strongest influences. The game only lasted a few years but the world I had created and my characters never escaped my thoughts.Īs a writer, I consider C.S. Toonopolis began as a silly interactive fiction game played with some real life and virtual friends. It was at this time that I finally grasped the stories that had been in my head since I was a teenager and wrangled them to paper. I have since had the challenge and pleasure of being a homemaker. When my second son was born in May, 2010, however, my wife and I decided that it would be more prudent for me to be a stay-at-home dad, taking care of the new baby along with my first child, who was born in June, 2005. Along the way, I managed to earn a BA in Religion and English Writing from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA and an MA in Secondary Education from Holy Family University, also in Philadelphia.Īfter completing my Masters, I began teaching high school English. I spent the first ten years of my professional life in retail sales, working my way up to store management positions in two different Fortune 500 retailers.
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