Andy Riley, King Flashypants and the Evil Emperor, Hodder Children’s Books/Hachette, 13 Sept 2016, 240pp., $15.99 (pbk), ISBN: 9781444929591
King Edwin of Edwinland is 9 years old and rules his kingdom as any 9 year old would, with an emphasis on fun. That is, until he runs out of pocket money and can’t give his happy peasants their regular Friday chocolate. The Evil Emperor Nurbison, who lives in nearby Nurbisonia, sees his chance and tries to convince the peasants to support him in overthrowing young Edwin. When they don’t switch allegiance immediately, he creates a fearful monster to scare them all into submission. Strangely the peasants completely fail to notice the dragon is in fact a cow half painted with green paint (it ran out), wearing monster slippers and with a candle stuck on each nostril. They help Emperor Nurbison take over Edwinland, and the exiled Edwin has to come up with a cunning plan to reclaim his kingdom.
An imaginative and hilarious chapter book written and illustrated by comedy writer and cartoonist Andy Riley, King Flashypants takes traditional fairy story tropes, puts them in a blender and pours out a crazy story full of original ideas. The Evil Emperor wears a crown with anti-diamonds that suck in light, employs a peasant in his kingdom to make spooky sound effects with his mouth, and will only invade Edwinland if his musicians play his special Striding Song (words and music included at the back of the book). Although he is ‘evil’ he isn’t cruel, trapping a fly but setting it free again and giving out autographed pictures of himself to the newly conquered peasants. Edwin, on the other hand, is kind, loyal and clever, but clearly has the priorities of a 9 year old: when Minister Jill tries to explain how to manage a kingdom budget he starts daydreaming about knitted flipper socks for whales. Yet when Edwin has the chance to escape to Theme Park Land and live forever on cotton candy he decides not to abandon his peasants. His cleverness wins the day: although his ingenious plan to solve the kingdom’s cash flow crisis by checking all the palace sofas for coins doesn’t pan out, he ultimately outwits Emperor Nurbison, with some helpful prompting from Minister Jill.
King Flashypants has a good balance of gender roles, with the other two key characters, Minister Jill and Megan the Jester, both active females who help Edwin reclaim his kingdom. The book is visually very dynamic: illustrations are cartoon style, with lots of addendums and arrows indicating key features such as the water slide in Edwin’s palace. There are a range of fonts, font sizes and word shapes that bring the text to life. Since it is wider than the average chapter book, it has a ‘graphic novel’ feel, which might tempt reluctant readers. At over 200 pages it is a long read, but the story is fast paced and each chapter is short, ending on a cliff hanger. It breaks into conversational banter at times, and encourages readers to try Emperor Nurbison’s laugh. Even in the darkest moments the humour prevails: when King Edwin and his companions are about to be thrown into a bottomless pit, the Emperor delays the end because he has to run off to wee.
This is an exciting, funny book that middle to upper primary readers of both genders will love.
Reviewed by Rachel Le Rossignol
