Debunked

2.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Alex and Ozzie are orphans, and now their grandfather and guardian, the famously inept explorer, has gone missing, presumed dead. Again. Almost immediately, they're launched into a fantastic adventure, fleeing blue-eyed assassins, and seemingly rescued by a mad scientist and his lizard first mate (or is it bodyguard?).

Review
I wanted to liked Debunked; it's got good ideas, a fun intent, intriguing art. And, to some extent, I did. But it also felt familiar, and really frenetic.

The familiarity, at least in the first third or so, owes a lot to comparisons with Lemony Snicket. There's a notable Unfortunate Events feeling to the story – so much so that it interfered with my enjoyment, because the thing felt derivative. After a time, that fades away, as it becomes evident that the bulk of the book will take place in a non-Earth environment (or more properly a part of Earth that long ago split from ours).

However, the frenetic pace continues throughout. The children are almost immediately set upon by assassins and launched into a complex escape, broken only by periods of (fairly well done) infodumps. While the machinations are fun, there's just so much of it, and so fast, that there's never any time to sit back and enjoy it. By the halfway point, it was all becoming a blur, and the book getting harder and harder to pick up again.

I was also slightly annoyed that Abbott seemed incapable of using the past perfect [I had to look that up] – essentially, never saying ‘had given' instead of ‘gave'. It makes the writing awkward in places, and often ambiguous, if not clumsy. I noted this in the very first chapter, and it continued for almost 500 pages – irritating.

There's a lot going on in this story and this world, and clever ideas flying left and right. But the sheer number makes it hard to focus on any, and by chapter 6 I was struggling to be interested. Things improved after a while – I got used to it – but I did wonder why Abbott insisted on cramming so many things in, especially when some (such as the translapede – a renamed Babel Fish) are clearly borrowed. Based on the end-book author's note, I'm hoping this was meant as homage to Douglas Adams, but to me it struck a false note.

All in all, way too many ideas crammed into far too little space. Room to breathe would have made the whole thing more interesting. As is, I won't be going on to further books in the series.