The Eye Of Ulam
Terry Denton

Allen & Unwin, 2001

132p., pbk, $12.95

1865083585

 

This is about Nico who has to go to a surf championship but he misses it because he has to go to a parallel universe to rescue his friend Icon from a terrible fate. He meets King Vidor who thinks that he has the real eye of Ulam so when they go through the maze, everything goes Vidor’s way until the very end.

This is for 9, 10 and 11 year olds. I rate this out of a hundred as 99 and a half. There was a lot of unbelievable events such as the underworld and the giant chicken. I think that children would read this in 2 hours if they put their minds to it. It was easy to read. Most of it was comics.

I absolutely can’t wait till another one of these books comes out. Terry is definitely the funniest man in a small part of the southern hemisphere.

Therese  10 years  Bilgola
In this book there is an alien called Icon who becomes king after defeating his brother Vidor, with the help of his friends Mikey, Claudia and Nico. If you want a book of adventure, this is the one to get. It is half-cartoon and half-story, and is pretty funny.

Silas, Yr 4, Melbourne

The Eye of Ulam, by Terry Denton, is a fantasy book, aimed at children between the ages of twelve and fourteen.

It is about a guy called Nico who is about to compete in the World Surfing Championships when he and his friends are forced to go to a place called Duryllium, far away in a parallel universe. There, they must help their friend Icon (a strange, blind, one-eyed creature), to overhaul the king of Duryllium and become king himself, but only the person with the real ‘Eye of Ulam’ will take the throne.

This book is actually part text, and part comic, with the comics really adding to the already humorous story.

The book is very funny throughout. The author has written what will appeal to the readers, using the kind of language that kids use. All the jokes are also aimed at kids.

The storyline didn’t have a lot to it though, with most of the book actually irrelevant. The narrator constantly interrupts the book to tell random stories about invisible penguins sinking on invisible icebergs after being hit by the Titanic, or how all the colour copies of the book had been shipped off to Planet Omega 13. But once again, this just makes the book funnier, and adds to the fun of reading it.

I recommend this book to people between the ages of twelve and fourteen, who have a slightly warped sense of humour, and want to have a bit of fun with their reading.

Cameron, aged 13, Canberra, ACT