In 1992, the book was adapted as a six-part TV series by the BBC. [5] Of the experience, Diana Wynne Jones says: [6] And in the end, you're left with so many questions--not the bad kind that leave things unfinished and bug you forever and indicate bad storytelling, but wonderful areas to imagine about. Like... Who ARE these people? Aliens? How did they get here? What are their parents like? (Must be amazing (in maybe an awful way) with children like those...) What will the people on the spaceship do? Will they survive and try to take over a different planet? Will Erskine try to farm the world? Will Awful try to farm the world with him? (I'm suspecting since Venturus is good with future stuff, maybe he can see the future to a certain extent and his intuition about Erskine was correct. Although maybe with Venturus's influence it will turn out differently.) Although each wizard ruled a section of the town, he or she was a prisoner in it. Each suspected that one of them held the secret behind the words, and that secret was the key to their freedom. Which one of them was it? The Sykes family become pawns in the wizards' fight to win their freedom, wrest control from one another, and fan out to rule the world. The accurate representation of authors was the greatest thing ever. Quentin was stereotypical but not so much so that he got annoying, and he was still very real and unique. He was one of my favorites.

Howard gets his own bullet because he was just awesome. I liked how he was both similar and different than Blade from Dark Lord Of Derkholm? Although that revelation at the end... yeah. More about that later. Weird Tales reviewer John Gregory Betancourt praised the novel as "a witty little urban fantasy [and] a delight to read." [3] Nice Guy: Hathaway is the only one of the siblings who comes across as a completely decent person, although some of the others are trying to improve. Or is the situation more complex than at first appears, and will the Sykes’ household of parents, son, daughter and student lodger each find they have a role to play, where their decisions and actions have unexpected consequences and their relationships be revealed as contrary to appearances? Thirteen-year-old Howard Sykes lives in an English town with his parents, Quentin, an author and professor, and Catriona, a music teacher; his sister Anthea, always called "Awful" because of her constant screaming; and Fifi, the family's au pair. Their life is interrupted one afternoon when an unnamed huge person, "somebody's Goon" as Fifi describes him, comes into their home and announces that he has come to collect the two thousand words that Quentin owes somebody called Archer.

The Goon takes Howard to see Mountjoy, who reveals that the town is secretly run by seven wizard siblings: Archer, Shine, Dillian, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine, and Venturus. Each one "farms" some aspects of the town's life and industry (for a list, see below). Mountjoy has instructions from an unknown superior to post the words but does not know who the actual recipient is. The anticipation was well worth it, too. The book starts immediately with the introduction of the Goon of the title (an oversized ogre of a man) crowding the Sykes household, which consists of the protagonist Howard, aged 13; his little sister Awful; their live-in sitter Fifi; their father Quentin, a writer; and their mother Catriona, a music teacher. Archer sent the Goon there to collect 2,000 words from Quentin, something that Archer...and Archer's brothers and sisters...believe is keeping them from ruling the world. Wait? What was that again?

Rereading this aloud was so FUN. Doing the voices etc. for this crazy cast of characters was fabulous. I also loved reading it a second time because this time I actually understood what was going on, after all those mindbending plot-twists in the first reading. A.k.a. IT WAS EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME AND I DIDN'T THINK THAT WAS POSSIBLE. The rest of the plot is far too convoluted to briefly summarise, nor is it desirable to indicate how it may ultimately resolved; all we’re aware of is that it’s up to Howard, who dreams of designing spaceships, to investigate — with both help and obstacles from Archer’s Goon — and that the teenager is somehow key to all the mysteries.

See also

The Goon talks like Freddy from Cotillion, probably my favourite book by Georgette Heyer. For this reason, and because I often have a fondness for large, stupid people (especially when they're actually a lot cleverer than people think), the Goon is my favourite character. He's also surprisingly sweet, especially when you get to know his real motivations. Happily Married: Hathaway and his wife Bess, as a deliberate contrast to the other siblings who all live alone apart from their minions, servants, or robots. On the contrary, the ending seems unnecessarily drastic and thoughtlessly takes out several civilians without comment. I mean, maybe Fifi didn't want to [spoiler]? It's not like anyone asked her. Also, there's an element of fat phobia, which is the second time I've noticed that from Jones; it's an unpleasant trend.

Archer’s Goon is the complex plot of a town secretly administered by a mafia of seven wizard siblings – Archer, Shine, Dillian, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine and Venturus – who extract a tax from every aspect of the town’s life and commerce. Thoughts: As I said above, this is about the families. Sibling. Parents. From annoying, to mostly-evil, to decent-but-with-a-selfish-streak-and-a-temptation-to-take-over-the-world. And there's almost nothing I like better than families, especially when it's not the "heartwarming and wholesome" type of story, but filled with grudges and reconciliations and temper tantrums and people who dislike their siblings so much they'll confine them to the sewers for thirteen years.* And yes, also some heartwarming bits too.The names! Archer, Dillian, Shine, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine, Venturus. All actual names as far as I know, though all fairly unusual. But don't they look lovely and interesting all in a row there?