Imagine an author who made his success on the type of book that was very relatable and popular with young boys but they just aren't selling anymore and so he's begged by his agent to write a fantasy book because that's where the sales are. That is how The Murdstone Trilogy starts and, rather than take us on the adventure we think ensues from the blurb, we follow Philip Murdstone's sudden inspiration to write fantasy, the addiction to the success it has brought, and whose tale it really is.
Philip Murdstone isn't an amazing character or a great person. His one special thing was that he was able to write some books about emotional experiences young boys have that aren't often approached in literature - experiences only ever referred to by his agent, Minerva, as "stories about sad boys". It belittles the point of it but that was his only success and relatively redeeming quality that he reached that kind of audience. The absurd part of his arc from the beginning is that there is an emphasis on how much he hates fantasy, he hates escapism, wizards, magical creatures, anything you can think of that makes a fantasy novel. The pointers he's given on what to read and the key elements of a fantasy novel sound a little like a mockery of the genre - high fantasy specifically - and it's almost like Mal Peet was mocking everything we fantasy readers love about books like The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia. At the very least, as a fantasy lover, I could enjoy the mockery as some of the book's dry humour, the details weren't entirely untrue for a classic high fantasy story.
When I read the blurb, I initially thought that when Philip Murdstone meets the goblin-like character, he would end up going on some mystical fantasy adventure, maybe crossing over to another world where it would take place and provide the inspiration for the fantasy novel he would eventually write. However, at no point does it say that. I think from other books having a similar type of description in the blurb has made me assume the character would end up one some kind of adventure. Instead, his meeting with the goblin-like character, adequately named Pocket Wellfair, leads to a sudden burst of unending inspiration to start and finish writing a single fantasy book in hours earning him crazed amounts of success. So much success that he gets hooked on the newfound attention for his writing and the ease with which he wrote it, leading to the desperation to fulfil one of the fantasy requirements Minerva laid out for him at the beginning - they usually come in threes. This is what inevitably leads to some madness with Pocket Wellfair and Murdstone's steady downward spiral hidden from the public.
Pocket Wellfair was the most enjoyable and bearable character throughout the book and I feel like there just wasn't enough of him being around. He was amusing, intelligent, knew what he was doing and sure of himself - the novel's adventures were based on him after all, that was where the success was. It wasn't just Murdstone's audience that loved Pocket Wellfair's character. The lack of his presence is frustrating as the other two main characters are quite shallow and a bore.
Minerva is a dishonest caricature of what a woman with success in her field looks like and it actually comes across as quite sexist at times. It feels like this could have been Mal Peet's experience of a couple of women in publishing or a result of how they've previously portrayed in the media and that's what he's put here for us. I understand the concept of writing what you know but sometimes that comes across as ignorant assumptions people in whatever categories you may choose. Considering that she is one of three significant characters, it's just plain annoying.
The ending was unexpectedly darker than I thought it could or would be. About halfway through the book, I did think this was going to end badly for Murdstone but I didn't expect where he would end up and how, how this whole situation would drive him to the madness that was better publicised as an untimely demise. Then again, Pocket Wellfair warned him of the consequences.
The narrative form and story are quite simplistic, therefore easy to consume and get through. There isn't too much detail to get absorbed in or keep track of which makes it easy to pick up where you have left off which was important for me as this was my commute read so I wouldn't be reading it for a couple of days until the next time I was on public transport.
Reasons to Recommend:
- Pocket Wellfair - best character though underused
- The madness that comes with easy success
- Easy mildly comical read
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