The 13 Clocks

She wore serenity brightly like the rainbow.

I have no idea why or how I ended up putting this one on hold. One of those random librarian moments I guess. Considering it was small, I hung on to it thinking I would get to it eventually. When Bout of Books came up, I knew it was a perfect time.

I haven't read much fairy tales but even I could see this was full of fairy tale tropes. The prince in disguise, the impossible task, the evil uncle...all these plus more made this like a giant “find the trope” read. A quick read by an author I haven't read and a book that I want to give to my nephew to enjoy in a few years.

The 13 Clocks is a fun fairy tale. It reminds me of The Princess Bride (perhaps PB was modeled after 13 Clocks?) A prince arrives at the castle of a mean, mean Duke, incognito, to find a way to win the hand of the Princess. The Duke sees through his disguise (via his secret spies) and sends the prince off, as he has many other princes in the past, on an impossible mission. But the prince has a helper, the Golux, who is helpful, though he often makes things up.

This book is completely wonderful. For maximum enjoyment, it demands to be read aloud. (If I hadn't had a housemate present, I fully expect I would have read it to my cats.)

4.5 stars, Metaphorosis reviews

Summary
Time in the castle has frozen while the cold-hearted Duke sets impossible task for his daughter's suitors - or just kills them. But the mysterious and invisible Golux has other plans for the latest clever prince.

Review
From an early age, my favorite humorist was and is James Thurber. Something about his wry wit captures what I think is amusing. I can't be sure, but I imagine that my first encounter with him was his illustrated book, The Last Flower – an A5-ish, orange covered paperback with crude but effective drawings. It's not, by a long shot, the funniest of his books – it's a fairly damning indictment of man's inability to learn, but also a demonstration of the persistence of hope. It's Thurber's more fantastic, childish tales that are the most hopeful – The White Deer, The Wonderful O, The Great Quillow, and, of course, this book, The 13 Clocks.

Thurber enjoyed defeating readers' expectations and twisting familiar fairy tales into new shapes, and that's the approach he takes here. There's a princess, an evil duke, a prophecy, a brave prince, but none of them act quite as you'd expect. It may not have you laughing out loud, but there's a weirdly gentle sardonicism to the whole thing that will have you smiling quite a lot.