Title: Return to
UKOO
Author: Don Hurst
Déjà vu at its finest in Don Hurst’s fantasy novel
Return to UKOO
Don Hurst has a gift of the creative mind. He somehow has managed to capture
the essence of adult readers with a Young Adult imaginative tale. Fowlchick,
Quackers, Honkers, Wizard Tae, big fat octopus, Poo Pool are just some of the interesting names you will encounter.
The capability to smoothly transmit a missing person tale using a very unique and interesting character, Dale Hern,
shows the artistic splendor of Don Hurst. Using first person POV, UKOO (United
Kingdom of Otheroff) lets us travel in between the now as we know it on earth with the mapping of a whole new world, which
jumps at you with intricate and detailed visual descriptions.
In the midst of a dream, we begin to feel the perplexed life of Dale Hern right from the beginning. Although at times the many facades in this new world confused me a bit, the humorous take of Don Hurst’s
words made me laugh. It brought to mind the movie Labyrinth with David Bowie, an owl leader, feared by all the citizens within his kingdom. Wizard Tae has the same effect on his people in a land filled with illusions and riddles.
Dale Hern maintains one goal as he and young King Malcolm go on their quest: to find the young King’s mother,
a lady Dale feels drawn to for some reason. King Malcolm’s father has been
murdered and fingers begin to point to Warlock Garth Bane.
This fantasy book will delight everyone in the illusionary, funny world of Dale Hern and his return to UKOO.
Return to UKOO was a good read and I recommend it to all.
Lea Schizas – AllBooks Reviewer
Publisher: ePress-online.com
ISBN: 0-9708635-9-4
Pages 214
Price: 14.98
Daisy Repka Review.
Received this email from
Janice Repka, author of a book I highly recommend to Young and Older readers alike.
The Stupendous Dodgeball Fiasco. http://www.janicerepka.com/ The book is about a boy who runs away from a circus.
Quote:
Special note to Don -- My 12 year-old daughter, Daisy, absolutely
LOVED your book. She hugged it so hard when she was done she bent all the pages. She asked me to tell you that she would like
to be president of your fan club (I kid you not - these were her words).
Unquote.
Quote:
Dear Mr. Don,
I love Return to UKOO. It is extremely funny.
My favorite characters are the Migolites. Many strange things happen in this
fantasy book, like the trees and bushes move. [Relocate] The world is so colorful. The grass is purple and the sky is lavender, and there are two blue suns!
I would give Return to UKOO five thumbs up, if I had five thumbs that is. Now excuse me, because all this writing about it has made me want to read it again,
so I must return to Return to UKOO.
Daisy
A 12-year-old reader
Future President of the Return to UKOO Fan Club
Unquote.
My answer:
Dear Miss Daisy
I thank you, the Megolites thank you, and for
the first time Wizard Tae quacks. The Megolites cheer because they rather hear
him quack than croak. [Croak as in dead.]
While the trees and bushes relocate and change color, I sit in my chair and dance to avoid them, wondering what it
would be like to have five thumbs. Think of all the pinches I could deliver if
attacked by critics.
This letter officially appoints
you, Daisy Repka, the President of the Return to UKOO Fan Club. No other
person can ever take your place, your review making me happy as a Megolite. Giggle.
A 70-year-old writer
Author of Return to UKOO
Still another review:
www.ebook-reviews.net Review.
Return to UKOO
Twenty-two years ago, Dale Hern dropped into existence out of nowhere, and became a homicide
cop with peculiar powers. Aha, you say! Intrigue, suspicion, and mystery. Well, yes. And no. Dale Hern, you see, was a great
dragon-killing hero in the land of UKOO, but due to a major indiscretion, he was exiled and his memory wiped.
On his fortieth birthday, he's yanked through a magic mirror, and is expected to save the
ungrateful world of UKOO once again. There's a problem, though. UKOO rhymes with cuckoo-for good reason. UKOO is a land of
slapdash buffoonery, with midgets riding ducks, ridiculously vain wizards, and magic mirror tongues. Yes, you read that correctly.
I enjoyed Mr. Hurst's writing. After Dale has a particularly trying time with with an old
lover, he thinks: "I want to find someone to love me, someone who doesn't slap." I liked his way of puncturing flights of
fancy, too, with a matter-of-fact "Sometimes a dragon is just a dragon."
Return to UKOO has a good premise, and there's
no doubt that Mr. Hurst is great at putting words together. Return to UKOO is a fun book.
Jeanette Cottrell, Reviewer
