The New York Times Book Review - Christopher Healy
The story is not only presented from two distinct viewpoints, it uses two distinct methods. In a brilliant storytelling device, Werfel's side of the tale comes to us in prose, while Spurge's comes in pictures—the elf's own mental images, which he secretly transmits to his superiors via magic spell. It's an ingenious way of showing how fear and xenophobia can affect someone's impressions of the unfamiliar…Yelchin's art, evocative of kookily surreal medieval woodcuts, is perfectly suited to the task. [The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge]…is at times both moving and hilarious. Spurge is not just an unlikely hero—it's hard to know if he's a hero at all. But that only makes the finale of this political satire all the more surprising.
Publishers Weekly
★ 08/06/2018
In a witty, offbeat adventure, elfin historian Magister Brangwain Spurge is sent by Lord Ysoret Clivers, of the Order of the Clean Hand, to the allegedly wicked goblin court of Ghohg the Evil One; once there, Spurge is to present the ruler with a carved gemstone and broker peace. After crossing the Bonecruel Mountains via crossbow capsule, Spurge is welcomed by his host, the unfailingly polite goblin historian Werfel the Archivist, who is eager to make friends with a professional fellow and show him his beloved culture. But most of goblin culture involves rehashing its conflict with Spurge’s people, leading to a chain of interpersonal misunderstandings. Things go sideways when Spurge tries to present his gift to Ghogh the Evil One, and the two must flee the city, then rely on each other to survive murderous bandits and ogres, firestorms, and treachery. Told in narrative and illustrated pages—Werfel’s experiences and Spurge’s visual dispatches back home—the story by Anderson (Feed) and Yelchin (Arcady’s Goal) blends the absurd and the timely to explore commonality, long-standing conflict, and who gets to write a world’s history. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 10–12. Author’s agent: David McCormick, McCormick Literary. Illustrator’s agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
The book, which is on this year’s National Book Award long list, is at times both moving and hilarious. Spurge is not just an unlikely hero — it’s hard to know if he’s a hero at all. But that only makes the finale of this political satire all the more surprising.
—The New York Times Book Review
Anderson’s latest foray into middle-grade fantasy is executed with the all smarts and finesse his fans have come to expect. Joining him on this storytelling adventure is Yelchin...Yelchin’s black pen-and-ink illustrations, in Medieval style, capture the humor and fantastical details of the text, as well as Brangwain’s changing view of goblins. Biting and hysterical, Brangwain and Werfel’s adventure is one for the history books.
—Booklist (starred review)
Together, Anderson and Yelchin craft something that feels impossible, a successfully unorthodox epistolary, pictorial, and prose narrative that interrogates the cultural ramifications of unchallenged viewpoints and the government violence they abet even as it recounts the comedic blunderings of a spy mission gone wrong. Monty Python teams up with Maxwell Smart for a wrestling match with Tolkien—splendid.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
With the look and feel of medieval lithographs, they include touches of humor, whimsy, irony, and menace; as such, they are well suited to both the acerbic wit and the affecting tenderness of Anderson’s prose. The result is a fantasy that couldn’t feel more real, obliquely referencing a political climate marked by a lack of civility, underhanded diplomacy, fake news, widespread bigotry and prejudice, and the dehumanization of marginalized people.
—The Horn Book (starred review)
Told in narrative and illustrated pages—Werfel’s experiences and Spurge’s visual dispatches back home—the story by Anderson (Feed) and Yelchin (Arcady’s Goal) blends the absurd and the timely to explore commonality, long-standing conflict, and who gets to write a world’s history.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Sophisticated, witty and sharply political, the book tells of the elf Brangwain Spurge and the goblin Werfel, two scholars from feuding kingdoms who are swept into a maelstrom of espionage, deceit and prejudice.
—The Wall Street Journal
The satirical tone is reminiscent of Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” while the format is similar in concept to Brian Selznick’s work; Yelchin’s black-and-white ink drawings reveal the viewpoint of the visiting Elfin historian, contrasted with the text descriptions from Werfel’s viewpoint. A relevant...message on the importance of perspective and finding common ground. A good choice for most middle grade shelves.
—School Library Journal
This comic spy story addresses prejudice and cultural misunderstandings in a unique way, and could complement both historical and political discussions in the classroom.
—School Library Connection
A brilliant, satirical take on cultural chauvinism, objectivity and war and peace, The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge is witty, wise and wondrously unique.
—BookPage
[A] smart and smarting history with its consequential warning: Truthfully recall the past to change the future.
—San Francisco Chronicle
This beautifully crafted, thrilling fantasy entertains even as it offers a powerful lesson about national narratives, the power of myth and the difficulty of acknowledging "the other." A perfect novel for our times.
—Buffalo News
All I can say is that it’s a book for our time. An unreliable visual narrator. A Cold War, Middle Earth, buddy comedy. Art that looks like the lovechild of Hieronymus Bosch and Terry Gilliam. You know. One of those.
—A Fuse #8 Production (blog)
For me, however, the cream of this middle school crop is The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge by M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin. This masterly political satire in the form of a fantasy novel feels more relevant to our current political strife, two years into the Trump administration, than any book published this year.
—School Library Journal (blog)
This hilarious political satire details a thousand years of animosity between the elves and the goblins.
—People Magazine
Hidden among Yelchin's ornate illustrations, Clivers' posturing, Spurge's sneaking and Werfel's confusion is a surprisingly humorous tale of misunderstanding, betrayal, miscalculation—and the power of preconceived notions. As both nations hurtle toward a new chapter in diplomacy, Yelchin and Anderson offer a sly commentary on who really gets the last word in history.
—Virginian-Pilot
If Hieronymus Bosch and Terry Gilliam had a love child, it couldn't be more twisted and brilliant than the silent visual sequences you'll find on these pages.
—NPR Books
Snarky, clever, and brilliantly executed, this is my number-one favorite book of the year.
—The Booklist Reader
“Anderson and Yelchin’s fable of goblins, elves, and the cultural brouhahas that put their respective nations on a war footing is accessible, darkly comic, and rewarding.”
—Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked
“What a fun wild crazy smart gorgeous book! And oh! that art — insanely beautiful.”
—Jon Scieszka, first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature
MARCH 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Gildart Jackson brings M.T. Anderson’s world of elves and goblins to life from the perspective of one character, an elf. Through his illustrations, artist and coauthor Eugene Yelchin tells a totally different story from the perspective of a different character, a goblin. In order to fully grasp what is going on, listeners must have access to the bonus PDF. Jackson’s voice for the titular elf, a scholar, sounds like he is reading a BBC newscast. In contrast, his goblin counterpart, the archivist Werfel, growls and slobbers as if he has too many teeth in his mouth. As the two academics debate each culture’s version of history, they hurl insults that might start a new war between the elves and the goblins. There are laughs for listeners of all ages in this middle reader political satire. A.R.F. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2018-06-18
Spy thrills meet fantasy rivalries as an elitist elf and a bookish goblin strike up a cross-cultural kerfuffle in Anderson and Yelchin's collaborative meditation on prejudice.Scholar Brangwain Spurge of the Realm of Elfland is sent to deliver a historically significant gift to the ruler of the neighboring goblins—and to make some covert observations. Little does he know that his spy mission, related in multipage wordless sequences of black-and-white illustrations, is in fact an assassination. Meanwhile, in an interleaved third-person prose narrative, Werfel, a goblin archivist, is thrilled to meet and host the elf historian, sure that they will find fertile common ground to begin easing the 1,000-year-old tension between their two kingdoms. Dismayed, however, by Spurge's lack of appreciation and downright snobbishness, Werfel is horrified to find his guest has betrayed his hospitality and caught the attention of the goblin secret police as their two kingdoms head, once again, toward conflict. Occasional letters from Elfland's spymaster assist the two primary narratives. The book makes no secret about its own position even as it cheerfully asks readers to think critically about ideologies and their agendas and the manufactured barriers of misinformation and misunderstanding. Together, Anderson and Yelchin craft something that feels impossible, a successfully unorthodox epistolary, pictorial, and prose narrative that interrogates the cultural ramifications of unchallenged viewpoints and the government violence they abet even as it recounts the comedic blunderings of a spy mission gone wrong.Monty Python teams up with Maxwell Smart for a wrestling match with Tolkien—splendid. (Fantasy. 10-16)
