Review - Miranda: Fantasyland Tour Guide

Miranda: Fantasyland Tour Guide
by Aaron L. Humphres
Date: 2019
Publisher: Action Lab Entertainment
Reading level: C
Book type: graphic novel
Pages: 40
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

Join tour guide Miranda as she takes the Deedle family on a tour of the fantastical land of Wondaria. The tour takes readers through an enchanted wizard's house, an underground shopping plaza, and a haunted castle. Come explore the magic of Wondaria with Miranda's tour services.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This isn't so much a story as an exercise in world building. As such, the plot is nearly non-existent; it's just Miranda, a tour guide, taking the Deedle family out to enjoy the sights of Wondaria.

The book is done in almost a graphic novel format. For each sight on the tour, Miranda gives us a brief explanation, and then we're treated to interjections from the Deedles. The various locations are certainly creative, and the illustrations have plenty to look at. However, at the end, I was left wanting more. A story set in this world could be really neat. But this book is more like one of those volumes that accompanies a series. It has maps and profiles of various settings, but there's no story; that's left to other books.

So, while I think this is a great starting point, I don't know that I'd bother reading this again. I'd much rather see Miranda (or the Deedles) starring in a story that has conflict, action, and suspense... as well as a beginning, a middle, and an end.

(Note that there's a typo on the map at the end. It reads "COZY CAZE", when it should be "COZY CAVE". Perhaps this will be fixed before it goes to print.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Action Lab Entertainment for providing a digital ARC.

Plot: 1/5
Characters: 2/5
Pace: 3/5
Writing & Editing: 3/5
Illustration: 3/5
Originality: 3/5

Enjoyment: 2/5

Overall Rating: 2.38 out of 5 ladybugs