Killmaiden’s Compendium of Uncommon Occurrences by James A Shapiro. Inkwater Press 2013. 400 pages (paperback). Middle Level fiction, adventure.

shapiroSince the actual book summary would take up three paragraphs, I’ll give you a quick run-down: The Drake Family is one in a long line of Explorers for Killmaiden’s Compendium of Uncommon Occurrences, a book that’s part-encyclopedia and part Guinness Book of World Records. When Alex Drake’s father, Explorer Benson Drake, is sent on a secret mission by Lord Killmaiden himself, Alex is suspicious. Nobody ever goes on secret missions for the Compendium. The book is all about truth and discovery. The Compendium’s motto is “Light and Discovery.” Before he left, Ben Drake left a box for Alex in the attic. It won’t open for two months, at which point Ben expects to be back. But he doesn’t come back, and when Alex opens the mysterious box, a series of events unfolds that sends Alex and three companions on a wild chase across the Wide World to find Benson Drake and finish the mission.

The first word that truly comes to mind about this book is simply “amazing.” The writing is very simple, as it’s a truly Young Adult or middle level novel, but that’s definitely not a detriment once you get into the story. Alex, his sister Charlotte, and their governess Victoria are characters you will love. Even Oliver, a bookish boy who accidentally ends up on a plane the Drake children and their governess steal from the Compendium, is a character you love and respect. And more importantly, they are very real characters.

Despite being set in a world apart from ours, but very similar to modern-day Earth, their journey is a classic adventure. The four companions trek across half the globe in their mission to find Explorer Drake. They encounter the Rascal King, the Temple at the Top of the World, snow cats, and piranha-like fish that almost eat Alex’s fingers off. This is an adventure book and it definitely reads like one.

There were some moments when I was frustrated with grammar and punctuation. A lot of questions in the dialogue were ended with a period instead of a question mark. There were a lot of extra commas that could have been removed with careful editing. Despite those little annoyances, which most of you probably won’t even notice, I found myself devouring this book.

The four children travel to places that are very familiar to adults. They visit a town in Anglia called Kingston, or more commonly known as London in our world. They visit Aurelian (Itlay), Achillea (Greece), and Carthago (Egypt and Libya). They travel up the only river that flows north—the Nile—and come into contact with jujubeasts (wildebeests), and so on and so forth. Most middle level students might not get these references, but as an adult it was very nice to see these nods to our world and our history on this planet.

While the antagonist in this story is never truly revealed (he goes by the menacing name the Satrap), halfway through I was pretty certain of his real identity. The ending leaves an opening for other installments and I, for one, hope Mr. Shapiro will deliver. I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway and I’m thankful to Mr. Shapiro for sending me this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

If you like classic adventure stories, like the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis or the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, you’ll enjoy Killmaiden’s Compendium. Give this as a gift to your young teenage niece or nephew, or give it to a local teacher to read to the class. Either way, they’ll thank you. Because after all, if it’s in this world, it’s in this book!