This book is the result of mixing C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Greek mythology, Arthurian legend, Charles Williams, H. G. Wells, and no doubt various others that I didn't recognize or can't recall right now. It begins with a murder of Professor Sigurdsson, and three Oxford men, John, Charles, and Jack, meet on a stormy night at 221B Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes!). There, they also meet Bert, a strange little man who carries the Imaginarium Geographica, Imaginary Geography. It contains maps of everywhere that exists in legend, myth, and folk tale. He insists that John, now that the professor is dead, is the Caretaker of the book. They run for their lives from the beasts that killed the professor to Bert's ship, and they enter Archipelago, the world of imaginary places.
Though it dragged in some places, especially the beginning, it was a good book. It was light and fun, particularly so when people like Captain Nemo (Ah ha! Jules Verne too, I knew there was another one) pop up every now and then.
This book is a 4.5. It had nice concepts, cool characters, and it was fun. Not a 5 because of the bits that dragged. The end was much better than the beginning; it left me with a good feeling, which is probably why I gave it a high rating. In honor of Tummeler, the talking badger, the book was like blueberry muffins (now go read it to find out why). It was nice overall, and there was a little jolt every time you got a reference, like Nemo or talking animals, or you get to a blueberry.
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