I've talked before about how I grew up reading a lot of the Geronimo Stilton books. However, The Kingdom of Fantasy was always special for me because it was my first look at a "big" Geronimo Stilton book (this one being almost thrice as long as the usual books published under his name). It's also quite different in tone, this one being a high fantasy rather than taking place in Stilton's usual mouse world.
So let's see if it still holds up after all these years. Spoilers ahead.
One day while cleaning out his attic, Geronimo Stilton comes across a mysterious music box with crystals embedded in it. He opens it and soon finds himself in the titular Kingdom of Fantasy, an endless world consisting of many realms. Joined by a frog companion named Scribblehopper, Stilton is mistaken as a heroic knight who has to save the Fairy Queen. Despite not fancying himself a hero of legend, Stilton still decides to go on his quest, making his way through many of the Kingdom's fantastical realms in hopes to getting to the Queen on time.
Yeah, still solid, really. Definitely a high fantasy aimed at younger readers (I mean, all Stilton books generally are), but it's good. Like, legitimately good. The reader gets exactly what they want: an epic journey with this chronically afraid mouse and some memorable characters along the way. Each realm is unique and has a cool look to them. The book is also filled to the brim with fun and interesting illustrations to give even more life to Stilton's journey.
The final moral is also definitely a really good one. It hammers home the importance of kindness, friendship and imagination (or should I say, fantasy?) with it being the thing saving the day in the end. Also the idea that Stilton still is a hero despite being nothing like a stereotypical knight of legend is very good. Geronimo is consistently afraid to go on his journey (he's afraid of a lot of things, to be honest), but he still does it regardless just because it's the right thing to do. That's what makes him a hero, not the fact that he's wielding a sword or anything. And it was just sweet to see him and Scribblehopper gather more and more allies across the realms simply by being kind. I don't know, it's just really wholesome.
The book was also rather well-written with each realm and character being described pretty well. Some things and locations in the realms are still left (largely) untouched however, but with this being a series I can totally see Stilton revisiting these locations in future books.
Still, I wouldn't call it perfect. First, I can definitely see how the constantly changing fonts (a Geronimo Stilton trademark, to be honest) can be off-putting and distracting to read for some. Also, I personally thought that the whole "Kingdom of Fantasy Club" (basically all allies Stilton gathers throughout the book) could've been utilized a bit more.
Like I said before, it was really wholesome to see Stilton make a lot of friends in his journey across the realms, but some of the characters barely did anything after their initial introduction, as if the book largely forgot about their existence. And one character who joins the Club is only there for a single chapter and then instantly left behind because she's too injured to travel. I just wish that, with friendship being such a major theme of the story, the other characters of the Club got to do a little more. The only one who is really featured a lot from the Club is Scribblehopper, which is because he's the deuteragonist. The others just join the Club but become background characters pretty soon thereafter. They are still there on the journey (except the one they had to leave behind), but they just feel very underutilized.
But still overall a good book. Had a great time re-visiting it and I will be checking out other books in the series. I never read past this first book as a kid, so I wonder what future adventures the Kingdom of Fantasy brings us.
Rating: 3.5/5
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