What do you do when you throw together a kobold, a sadistic
wizard and packrat, and a castle full of enchanted creatures and objects who
just want to get back to their normal lives, and not get mauled, petrified, or
consumed by a door that must never be opened? When you put it like that, it
sounds like a Harry Potter spinoff, but even Hogwarts was never this unruly.
Instead of a boy wizard, our intrepid hero is a foxy-looking kobold named Nessy
who just wants to get through her chores without the castle falling into utter
madness, especially after her master, Margle the Horrendous, is accidentally
murdered. Such is the romp Too Many
Curses.
This fantasy screwball comedy brings out all the wildness of
its premise. But Curses isn’t exactly
a laugh-out-loud riot. Much of the humor relies on dry wit and quirky
characters, not clear-cut punch lines. It will get a chuckle out of you, but
don’t be too disappointed if you’re not rofl-ing. Now and then you can feel the
humor push a bit beyond its reach and trip over itself. Thankfully those
moments pass quickly and are easily forgiven. Maybe it’s the type of humor that
hits its mark best when someone is actually delivering it. In other words, I
really would like to see a film adaptation of this book and how comic minds
would perform these scenes. But there’s more than humor working in this book’s
favor.
