Why, engrossed in the latest Banned Underground novel to hit my phone, naturally.  Suffering, as I was, from a complete lack of motivation and a nasty headache to boot, I settled down yesterday afternoon and read the whole of Have Frog, Will Travel in the space of an afternoon.

What’s it about?  Glad you asked!  From Goodreads:

Go Fridge-diving at Grizelda’s in Have Frog, Will Travel

A traditional witch’s cottage is a wondrous, if sometimes impractical, thing. But not in the eyes of the County Council Building Regulations Inspectorate. And when the Council Inspector condemns her home after a chance encounter with the Fridge, Grizelda (off-white witch and leading proponent of the people/frog spell) is forced into a quest for a competent builder to make the necessary alterations.

But such things are not always easy to find, and as for a suitable plumber, well, you could throw money down the drain. Or the frog pond, as it might be… Just who is going to turn out to be Another Brick In The Wall?

And because Amazon’s blurb differs slightly, here’s that one:

“Tolkien Meets Spinal Tap!” More speculative fiction from The Banned Underground collection: Grizelda the off-white witch is forced to speculate about her future in fiction when the Dark Lord tempts her with his cookies, and threatens her with eviction from her cottage if she doesn’t join The Dark Side.

Tempted, Grizelda sets off on a journey of self-discovery, but whatever is she likely to find, apart of course from a few frogs?

Is it Good to be Bad? Or is it Bad to be Good? Or could there be a Third Way? Frogs, Vampires, and assorted Witches all have a different view on her predicament; and the only certainty is Grizelda’s uncertainty … and the usual stream of gags, one-liners and slapstick jokes provoked by her thoughts on philosophy.

I love the humor in these books, and while this book seemed a bit more contemplative, the jokes were as good as ever.  My favorite came fairly early in the book:

“Who seeks to cross the Bridge…may ask of me…His Questions Three,” she intoned.  “But any nonsense about the airspeed velocity of an unladen African Swallow and you are right out the door,” she added in an undertone.

I laughed so hard at that that I managed to pull my husband out of his Harry Potter book.  Sadly, the joke was lost on him as he’s no fan of Monty Python.

One of the things I love about these books is that the characters have grown and developed across the course of the series.  Dai’s intervention was another favorite scene in this book, not because it was funny, but because it felt true.  Sometimes when you have a problem, you can’t really see it, and when people point it out to you, you don’t always want to see it.  I hope Dai will feature more in the next book (mainly because I love Dai and Gloria and want more of them).  It was also good to see Chris and Erica again, as well as Count Notveryfarout and Freya.

In short, I love this book as much as its five predecessors, and I seriously can’t wait till the next one releases.  In the meantime, I suppose I’ll have to content myself by rereading them all.  Again. 😀

If you want to pick up your own copies, you can find Have Frog, Will Travel (now with a gorgeous cover by the awesomely-talented Hazel Butler) at Amazon and Amazon UK.

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

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