Title: The Adventures of JoJo Smith
Author: Tony Leslie Duxbury
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: August 12, 2013
About the Book
This is a light-hearted and amusing fantasy about a young man who is accidentally transported to an alien world. It is a medieval world and the magician who pulled him from his own was only practicing! Jojo is frightened out of his wits and finds himself in the middle of a needle match between the magician and the King’s henchman. As the magician ignores his pleas to reverse the spell and send him back Jojo looks for a way to force the issue. This is out of character for the normally happy-go- lucky Jojo, who usually just drifts through life. He comes up with the idea of making a revolution and dethroning the King. He finds allies to help him and the plan swings into motion. Of course, everything goes wrong from the start.
Available on Amazon
My Review
I received a free ecopy of this book from the author for an honest review.
JoJo is transported from the present to a medieval world by a wizard (think part Gandulf, part Merlin). For the first time, JoJo the drifter has to take control of his life if he wants to get back home. The wizard says he is unable to send him back home but JoJo suspects that he can, he just won’t.
I enjoyed reading The Adventures of JoJo. It is humorous at times but also philosophical. Poor JoJo ends up doing things that he never thought he would do but he never thought he’d be stuck living in medieval times either. I found it interesting that everything he does is to try to get back home, in other words, it is all about him. When he’s talking to some merchants about the revolution, they disgust him when all they can think about is what is in it for them. I thought that JoJo should be looking in the mirror.
I have always wondered how people back then could stand living without deodorant, bathing daily, or indoor plumbing. Of course, that’s what they were used to but can you imagine how it had to have been for JoJo? Not only the smell of the unbathed people, himself included, but the smell of the garbage and waste in the city. Yuck!
I liked how reading this book was like listening to JoJo tell the story and I do recommend it but I think a good edit would help.
About the Author
At the moment my wife and I are in the process of re-establishing ourselves here in Guatemala, Central America after a five year absence. The last five years have been spent in England. Previously, I lived for fifteen years in Guatemala with my wife, Eleonora, who is Guatemalan.
I was born to a working-class family in the North-West suburbs of London. I left school at sixteen without qualifications and pretty clueless all round. My only interest in school was art and fortunately I got a job as a trainee in a commercial art studio in London. I worked there for two wonderful years, then my second interest took hold. I had the urge to travel. After traveling through France, into Spain and a year in Germany, I returned to England. Unfortunately, I was never able to break back into commercial art again. I took whatever work I could get to get together enough money to travel again. That set the pattern of my life for many years. When I was in my early thirties I entered higher education and emerged four years later with a B.A. in Social Science. I spent my gap year in Guatemala, where I’d visited before and there I met my wife. After graduation I returned to Guatemala and became an English Teacher. The next fifteen years was spent that way.
My first urge to write was after I attended an optional course in college for mature students like myself who weren’t academically minded, being out of education for so long. My tutor encouraged me to write. After graduation I sat down and wrote six pages of my first novel. Unfortunately, that was as far as I got until three years later, when I was able to sit down and write until it was finished. Four more novels followed. I tried the traditional publishing route, which didn’t work out and now I’m offering my work on Kindle.
Bound 4 Escape