Andrew Einspruch’s fifth book in The Western Lands and All that Really Matters pre-release became available to reviewers I couldn’t wait to read it. I’ve loved the first four books and the intrinsic way he embeds subtle humor throughout the storyline. The Eastie Threat delivers another action-packed fantasy plot with his beloved anthropomorphic characters fans have come to know well.
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In The Eastie Threat, the story picks up with teenage Queen Eloise Hydra Gumball III on the throne facing challenges at every turn. Some are annoying challenges like adequate but not good food created by her new chef, but she is faced with big problems and puzzles that consume her thoughts as she tries to learn how to be the Queen.
She is still trying to figure out who killed her mother, and almost no one else seems interested. The advisors she depends on don’t seem to be serving her well or is that her imagination? Plus she has the distraction of a blurry eye and buzzing ear, a left-over side effect from her use of magic to help figure out what she needs to do. If that isn’t enough, the coup de grâce is a threat from Eastern Lands Queen Aglandau when she takes the Western Lands town of Flatchburg. She even relocates the Adequate Wall of the Realms to create a new boundary.
Einspruch delivers another well-paced page-turner in the Eastie Threat. Young Queen Eloise is a royal underdog you can root for. Her army is not prepared to meet the threat. Her support staff is inadequate, and she finds out her realm isn’t financially ready to handle everything that needs to be done. While overwhelmed she doesn’t give up, and with each challenge and even her failures, the reader can see the young woman’s underlying strength and at times wisdom.
I recommend The Eastie Threat to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy filled with conundrums, a strong female protagonist, and a little levity (often when you least expect it). I enjoyed that Einspruch brought the original band of characters introduced in The Purple Haze back together for this adventure. The one thing that disappointed me with this book is that it wasn’t quite as funny as the others, but the fact he could fit humor into this book at all with the Queen facing so many problems is an incredible feat. I give this book 5 stars, and I am looking forward to reading book six.
Reviews for Western Lands and All that Really Matters Books
The PurpleHaze (#1)
The Star ofWhatever (#2)
The LightBearer (#3)
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As Book Hookup, I am a long-time book reviewer and I received this book as a free review copy and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites.
About Author Andrew Einspruch
Andrew
Einspruch is the award-winning author of the humorous fantasy series The
Western Lands and All That Really Matters. He's also had more than 120
children's books published, both fiction and non-fiction, that have sold around
the world. Starting with the four-book "Dunkin' Dazza" series in the
1990s, Andrew's work has covered everything from basketball to DNA, biographies
to histories to mysteries, outback heroes to Christmas Island red crabs, and
from how the rides work at amusement parks to how the Australian Government
works (perhaps the greatest mystery of all).
Andrew is
the co-founder of the not-for-profit charity the Deep Peace Trust, which
fosters deep peace for all species. Based in rural New South Wales, Andrew, his
wife Billie, and their adult daughter Tamsin run the Trust's A Place of Peace,
one of Australia's largest farm animal sanctuaries. The cows, sheep, horses,
goats, dogs, cats, and geese, as well as local wildlife including kangaroos,
wombats, and cockatoos, are a constant source of inspiration.
If you ask, he'll deny he ever programmed in COBOL for a bank.
