I was a little apprehensive about this book because YA doesn’t often work for me and I’ve heard this book was pretty crazy too. They weren’t lying but it did end up surprising me in the end.
Debunked
Author: Dito Abbott
Pub day: May 09, 2022
Length: 436 Pages
Available on KU and for purchase here.
Blurb
Sometimes adventure knocks. Other times, it kicks the door in.
“Dearest Alexandria and Ozymandias,
If you are reading this, I have perished. My demise likely involved some manner of spiked pit or curiously fanged beast, so it’s doubtful I suffered long. Do not try to find me – the path is too perilous, and I am lost to the mortal plane.”
When Alex and Ozzie read their grandfather’s latest “death” letter, they barely blink. Dying six times in two years has to be a record, even for an explorer as incompetent as Sir Quidby Forsythe III.
Faster than you can say “kidnapped by a giant, glowing lizard,” the Forsythe twins are dragged into a world of ancient prophecies, sarcastic swords of legend, mutant slime beasts, and a growing awareness their grandfather might be the greatest explorer in history.
With Skhaar the Annihilator hot on their trail, Ozzie and Alex must solve the mystery of Sir Quidby’s disappearance before they become the final victims of the Forsythe Curse.
Review
As stated above, YA isn’t something I read a lot of because most of the time it doesn’t really work for me. This came highly recommended though from some readers that enjoyed The Legend of Black Jack by A.R. Witham, which is a book that totally took me off guard with how much I enjoyed it. I can definitely see why Debunked might appeal to that same readership.
This book started out really dramatically. Well, I want to say that it started that way but it pretty much stayed that way the entire way through. This is one big rush from one danger to another with nary a breather in between. While that does sound exciting, it actually can be a little bit exhausting after a while because you just get used to it eventually because the danger doesn’t quite feel as special anymore.
The characters, species, and world are very over the top all throughout. It feels like the author tried to throw in every single ridiculous thing that could be found. For a big part of the book, it was way too much for me personally, though I did laugh pretty hard sometimes. I even found myself laughing out loud here and there, which is not something that happens often. In contrast to that though, there were several times where I struggled to stop myself from skimming some pages because it felt like there were too many extra things added that were distracting from the story. The footnotes somewhat fall under that category but they were also kind of endearing sometimes.
Around 60% into the book though, I all of a sudden found myself much more invested. It felt like we got some of the ridiculousness out of the way and could finally focus more on the storyline. Only some though, trust me, there was still plenty in the rest of the book. I finally found myself caring for these characters and wanted to find out what would happen to everyone.
I don’t want to give too much away when that started to happen but it happened around the time when they were…. Hmmm… what was it again? (IFKYK)
The plot started the feel more intricate at this point with several things making more sense and intertwining more than previously expected. The characters grew into their own a little more as well, which was fun to see.
I also like that the main story arc for book 1 was relatively resolved but there was a great setup for the rest of the series. I’m honestly surprising myself by saying this but I think I might even continue with it despite not enjoying myself for more than half of this book. It just felt like there was more focus on the plot in the end than the world building, which I’m hoping will continue. It even made the little footnotes more fun when I wasn’t overwhelmed with so much else already.
The Shaggy Shepherd 