THE SUSPENDED CASTLE

Philemon is back on—or rather in—the map with his friend Mr. Bartholomew, where they must help more peculiar inhabitants of the nonsensical map-world.

Back home on his farm, Philemon and his loyal donkey, Anatole, discover their friend Mr. Bartholomew miserable and sobbing. In the series’ first volume, Cast Away on the Letter A (2014), Philemon rescued him when he was stranded on the letter A (from the word "Atlantic" on a map) and brought him from his Wonderland-like residence back to the real world. However, reality and order have proven to be dull, and now, Bartholomew pines to go back onto the map. Aided by Uncle Felix, Phil and Bartholomew are transported to the map, but since they cannot go back the same way twice, they end up on the dot of the letter I. Their journey back to the A, however, doesn’t go as expected. As before, quirky curiosities and idiosyncrasies—like an oar-driven galley that’s shaped like a whale (complete with spout) or a castle tenuously suspended by a thread—pop up around every corner. Unlike the previous volumes, however, this third outing doesn't flow smoothly, with some of the critical details of the plot—like their arrival on the map—feeling a bit forced. Nevertheless, the kaleidoscopic narrative lens and mind-bending worldbuilding readers have come to expect are still fully intact, even if they are a bit of a reach.

While the whimsy and wonder run high, the narrative contrivances intrude more than in its predecessors.