Reading: THE ICKABOG - J.K. Rowling

Prose (Story): This new fairy tale by J.K. Rowling - originally an online project now published in book form for the first time - tells the story of the beautiful, bountiful and happy kingdom of Cornucopia, and what happens when a long-held legend of a monster living way up north in the marhslands is brought to life again by some nefarious members of the king's court ... and how a young boy and girl, best friends for years, must band together to see if both the legend is true, and if their now-crumbling country can be saved.

Don's (Review): One of the first words used to describe this book in the blurb - my last J.K. Rowling read, due to her non-inclusive and bigoted viewpoints on equality - is "warm" ... which, for this reader, was far from the word I would have chosen, as deception, violence, traitorous acts, and even murder played out on the page as I read. The story opens on the peaceful, wondrous and rich kingdom of Cornucopia, but unfortunately its monarch, King Fred, has a couple of advisors/underlings who manipulate him like a puppet ... no more so than when Fred leads a charge to the marshlands to find and destroy the mythical giant creature the Ickabog, building up a furor (thanks to those advising him) that instills fear and robs hope of the entire populace, and starts a chain reaction of events that sends Cornucopia spiraling into decay. I admit, for maybe the first third of the book I was thinking Good God, all this pain - subterfuge - espionage - murder - violence - what next? as the bad guys won at every turn and anyone going against the grain got probably disposed of. Fairly depressing stuff, and pretty dark for younger readers especially (even with the illustrations, throughout, supplied by children in the U.S. and Canada, via an online contest). But then, about a third in, I had an epiphany: that The Ickabog was, quite literally, an original fairy tale. Not the Disney kind - all sunshine and bunny farts - but more of the Brothers Grimm variety; a story with dark themes and darker deeds, where the hero/heroine (in this case, one of each) is put upon to the point of breaking by a villain or villains almost unstoppable in their evil. Almost. And once coming to this realization ... I devoured the book like a kid with his favorite ice cream, finding my assumption truer with each chapter and turn of events, "getting" the book at last right up to its genuinely satisfying finale; one that retained the novel's dark fairy tale vibe to perfection and put the book on my Top 10 of 2020 list. A great (if melancholy) way to end my reading relationship with the immensely talented - if sadly, seriously unaware - writer.  5/5 stars