Published: Jan. 19, 2011
Words: 36,465 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458015815

Short description

Lord Arkus readily admits he is a villain and sees no reason why it should stop him from being the protagonist of this book. After all, Prince Kellemar has defeated him in a rather questionable way. Bent on revenge, Arkus wants to catch an evil spirit who would make him nearly invincible, but a last-minute mistake leaves him with a Sparkling instead—"a goody-goody spirit that helps heroes."

Extended description

Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle readily admits that he is a villain and sees no reason why it should stop him from being the protagonist of this book. After all, Prince Kellemar, an aspiring hero, has defeated him in a rather questionable way. Bent on revenge, Arkus attempts to capture a powerful evil spirit who would make him nearly invincible, but a last-minute mistake leaves him with a Sparkling instead—“a goody-goody spirit that helps heroes, watches over little children, and messes up villains’ plans.” Bound to Lord Arkus for five years of service and sworn to act in his best interests, the Sparkling is not easy to get rid of, and of course his understanding of “best interests” is quite different from what Lord Arkus has in mind.

Tags

friendship, humor, fantasy, funny, spirit, swords, fairy tale, fantasy adventure, villain, humorous fantasy, funny fantasy, funny adventure, swords and magic, funny villain

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Videos

Book Trailer
Book trailer for My Sparkling Misfortune (turn your speakers up!).

Reviews

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Review by: Corwin Watts on Dec. 12, 2011 :
I read this book thanks to my local library. I kept wanting to read it because of the humor. So I decided to buy it, and it's sequel.
(reviewed the day of purchase)

Review by: R. A. Danger on April 30, 2011 :
Lord Arkus is a known villain with a few problems he has a beast chasing him and a nasty prince who calls himself a hero.
After being chase by the beast and losing him. He decides he needs a gormack but instead of capturing a gormack he got a sparkling. A sparkling that only attaches them selves to heroes (except that this sparkling believes he can change Arkus).
It’s not long before Arkus is scheming , he decides he wants to kidnapped the princess for ransom, instead that plan is defeated when some bandits come in and try to do the same. Arkus is force to save her. From then on he is called by the people “Lakeland Knight” and given a castle. Soon he has people wanting to work for him and he becomes friends with Prince Philip.
Force in the role of hero, he learns what true friendship is and the more he tries to dig out of his new role the more he is thrown in as a hero.
In the end he will tell he is a villain and always will be.
(reviewed long after purchase)

Review by: misha mathew on March 15, 2011 :
My Sparkling Misfortune is a story spinning around the self-proclaimed villain, Lord Arkus of Blackriver Castle. After being backstabbed by the not-so-honorable wannabe hero, Prince Kellemar, Lord Arkus is now putting his villainous mind to work to think about a deserving revenge for Prince Kellemar. But the first and the most crucial step of the plan goes disastrously wrong as he captures a Sparkling (a good spirit) instead of a Gormack (an evil spirit). For Arkus, the only good in having a sparkling as his servant for five years is that now he is seemingly safe from the monster who has been trying to kill him for many years. But as he soon finds out it is a bit difficult to be evil with a sparkling around who is bent in making him good.

When I first heard the title, My Sparkling Misfortune I had no idea what to make of it. But the book won me over just after its first page. The first page alone showed the villainous intents of Lord Arkus. According to the set belief, villains are to hated and detested but as hard as I tried I couldn’t come even near to hating Lord Arkus. He may proclaim to anyone and everyone that he is a villain from heart and soul but as we read on we realize that he may take pride in being in being a villain but he has nothing evil in him. Arkus’s sarcastic and humorous narrative will send the readers into peals of laughter. Jarvis, the sparkling, too adds to the entertainment factor with his sense of humour. It seems that Jarvis’s sole occupation is to bring out the good in his master, Lord Arkus by preventing him from spending his days in ‘scheming, plotting, attacking, invading, killing, plundering, kidnapping, collecting ransom and having other types of fun’. So, what does it matter if Jarvis gets a little fun out of it by sending Arkus into fits of anger?

Many of the previous books I have read have humour which seemed forced, as if the author was trying to make the readers laugh but was failing miserably. But while reading My Sparkling Misfortune, I never got such a feeling. The humour came naturally. The narrative is entertaining which would keep the readers hooked to the book. Arkus’s not-so-villainous character is both lovable and adorable. By the end of the book it seemed that I had unconsciously decided to support him even if he did something evil. The situation that Lord Arkus finds himself in is hilarious. Instead of catching an evil gormack to aid him in his evil plans he catches a sparkling named ‘Tulip’ (understandably Arkus changes his name to Jarvis, after all which villain would like to have a servant named Tulip), who wants to turn him into a noble and honorable person. The greatest irony in the story was when Arkus unknowingly saves the princess he had planned to kidnap and is hailed as the heroic ‘Lakeland Knight’. Another thing that made the book more interesting to read are the beautiful illustrations at the end of each chapter. The illustrations not only made the characters more alive, they made it easier to visualise the characters. My Sparkling Misfortune with all its humor also sends out a message about how easily we judge a person’s character without even knowing them properly. We generally distribute people into the good and the bad, forgetting that every person has their grey shades. Even the so-called good people sometimes act quite opposite to the popular conception of their characters.

My Sparkling Misfortune is funny and even gives out a good message. It definitely deserves a place in the must read lists of all fantasy enthusiasts.

Overall:
Entertaining, hilarious and now, one of my favorites

Recommended?
Yes, to all middle graders and also, to all fantasy lovers.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)

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