Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May

Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May
Buy Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Summary: Here we can learn how planet-defending household pets feel about their owners – if our eyes are not swamped by the levels of snot and gunk on display first.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 128	Date: August 2017
Publisher: Stripes Publishing
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781847157874
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Mitzy the cat and Biskit the dog are Pet Defenders – perhaps some of the creatures best suited to defend the planet from alien invasion, seeing as they have inbuilt animal instincts, and live alongside some of the strangest critters out there, in mankind. But when they're thinking life is too quiet, only for a rat to come along with a tale of being enveloped in snot and taken to a different corner of the universe entirely, they're only too keen to investigate. That's especially true of Biskit, when he learns that the adventure may allow him clues to solve the disappearance of his previous partner…

This is an exuberant and wacky adventure for the under-tens, with the proviso built into that that suggests anyone older will find it a little too wacky, and imbalanced. There is a heck of a lot of snot and gunge, and the whole plot, with the kind of ending that suggests this is an inconsequential episode in an ongoing soap opera story, revolves around the moral that reality TV is bad. What I found more favour with were the beats where Mitzy and Biskit get to reflect on their relationships with the people they've lost in this life, and how human owners – and their own friendship together – are what make them stronger.

This is again the issue – that you're forced to find this heart of the book amidst what amount to literal oceans of snot. I have to admit I should have been prepared for something like that – the prior books in the series featured alien dung UFOs, and last time, mind-controlling attack beards. Just that phrase alone indicates this is very much an 'anything-goes' universe, and I may be being too sniffy in my comments. Certainly it reads brilliantly for the target audience, the first half being very heavy on dialogue, and the second on firm action. But from a fan of a prior series from this author (that featured the very enjoyable Steampunk Pirates, I was expecting something that would not exclude the adult reader quite so completely.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

If you do want a drama with animals acting as special agents, minus the gunk and the bizarre, we can recommend Chicken Mission: Danger in the Deep Dark Woods by Jennifer Gray and its sequels. You might also enjoy Jones' The Dinosaurs are Having a Party!.

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You can read more book reviews or buy Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Escape from Planet Bogey (Pet Defenders) by Gareth P Jones and Steve May at Amazon.com.

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