I really wanted this book to be more funny than it actually was, but still, it's a fun romp with a sword-wielding teddy bear against monsters under (or over!) the bed.
The League of Ursus protects its children. Once a bear is loved by a child, it awakens and lives to shield them from monsters. That's what happened when Spark was given to Loretta. Same with Zed, the sock monkey, but he's more of a scaredy-cat than a warrior.
Spark's mentor, the handed-down and dignified Sir Reginald, has instructed her in how to protect her child. All is well until a nightmare escapes from a portal into Loretta's closet. Spark can't defeat it -- but she does manage to fend it off and out of Loretta's room. But the monster is hunting children. Others have gone missing in recent weeks. And there's another child in the house.
Even with Sir Reginald's sword, Spark can't stop it from taking Loretta's 14-year-old brother Matthew through the portal. Sir Reginald knows his child is still alive because he hasn't…well, stopped being alive. Which reveals the fate of most bears when their children grow up -- they stop being alive. It's almost more than Spark can…bare.
It takes a day for the family to discover Matthew is missing. In her grief and confusion, Loretta decides to finish a film the siblings started as a way to be closer to her missing brother. She invites several other girls to the house to film it, and Spark meets up with the girls' protectors -- including a polar bear named Ozzie and Rana, an Amazon Princess doll.
It's against the League of Ursus to show yourself to your child. But Spark may have no choice if she's going to rescue Matthew and keep Loretta safe.
I won't spoil the ending. Enjoy!
Once again, Klawde has another hit. While he's busy ignoring Barx, who's nagging Klawde to do his Emperor-ish duties and sign bills and legislation making the universe a better place, Klawde is planning how to unseat the Kitten Queen from her rule on Lyttrbox – well, in between naps, that is.
The mangy, unable-to-speak Earth kitten sets events in motion to lure Klawde into her claws, first by kidnapping Barx (which Klawde is blissfully aware of, but uninclined to do anything about), engineering the betrayal of his top henchman, Floofyfur (which Klawde is mildly annoyed by, but all good cats betray their leaders, so was to be expected, really), and finally, kidnaping Raj.
Ahem.
No one messes with the Emperor's pet.
Raj of course doesn't think of himself that way, but he does get to go on an interstellar adventure this time, including wormhole travel and everything!
This is a fantastic installment in the Klawde series and I look forward to more of his adventures. Enjoy!
