Official Review: Rags and Ruins by Bob Dixon

[aparsons]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Rags and Ruins" by Bob Dixon.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Rags and Riches
4 out of 4 stars

Bob Dixon is the author of several other children’s books other than Rags and Riches. He is a special needs teacher and is holder of a Guinness world record for the longest comic strip. Twice!

This story is set in modern times, but with magical creatures living in a timid peace near the humans. The creatures of “darkness” (like goblins, imps and gargoyles) live on the outskirts of society, and the “daylight” (like elves, centaurs or fauns) creatures live more closely with the humans. We begin this book by introducing the protagonist and the prophecy that surrounds him. Abandoned right after birth in a landfill, Rags is raised by a gentle and upstanding goblin family. We follow Rags through an entertaining, casual and enriching childhood, meeting his best friend Landin, a gargoyle, and a wizard who lives on the hill overlooking the landfill. Rags does not know he is a human, nor is he aware of the incredible prophecy set to unfold on his thirteenth birthday. Rags is the Child of Darkness, and his twin is the savior, the Child of Light. The Child of Darkness is destined to unleash a horrible evil on the world, and the Child of Light of course needs to stop it.

This is a young adult fantasy novel, characterized by the common coming of age story. Bob Dixon has some twists to his story, some of which were obvious fantasy tropes, but a few that were welcome surprises. The story has several chapters with the main focus of the story surrounding the protagonist. The author does an excellent job of moving perspectives from Rags to the other characters. Only a few of his characters have names however. The wizard is only known as the Man on the Hill. Some other characters are named: the Man in the Blue Suit and the tracker. It is an effective technique when seeing it from Rags point of view, but it seems too childish when we change perspectives to adult characters. The language is accurate for the audience, but the author has a tendency to add extra words that are not needed. Rags and Riches has a rich backstory that I hope will be expanded on. The fantastic creatures all live side by side with magic, but there is still the presence of modern technology. It would be an interesting universe to know more about, perhaps when Rags has fully grown into his powers.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. There is little depth to this story, but as a young adult novel, it does not need it. I could not put it down, I wanted to continue to know what would happen to Rags, Landin and Rag’s parents, and to see if my predictions were correct! This story gives us a new perspective on magic existing side by side in our modern world, something many fantasy series still struggle with. I would definitely recommend this book because of the character development we see Rags go through and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him grow into his magical powers. I am excited to see more from this author!

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Rags and Ruins
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