I had to ban The Glorkian Warrior Delivers a Pizza from bedtimes, because my (then six, now seven)-year old daughter would laugh so uproariously every time we read it that it eliminated all possibility of sleep.
The Glorkian Warrior is a goofy, lovable space patrolman who flies around in the company of his intelligent (in truth, more intelligent than the Glorkian Warrior) super-backpack, a combination of raygun and jetpack. In the first book, he also acquires a couple of side-kicks: a flying baby alien brain-sucker and a small child named Gonk.
Book two opens with the Glorkian Warrior locked in a perilous battle with a many-segmented space-snake, only to discover that super-backpack is out of ammo. Just as things look grimmest, he is rescued by Buster Glark, a meanspirited rival in the space patrol, who lets the snake’s head get away and promises to nark out the Glorkian Warrior to the Glorkian Supergrandma, who leads the patrol.
Thus begins another Glorkian adventure, with the Glorkian Warrior trudging home in low spirits, being very silly, being conned into going back out on patrol with Gonk in tow, getting into trouble by letting the baby alien eat too much of his brains, being rescued by the nasty Buster Glark, then rescuing the baby alien (who is frozen in a block of ice by Buster), then saving Buster, and so on.
On the way, there is a very satisfying dose of fart-humor, high silliness, exciting action, slapstick, wordplay and adventure. It is a hell of a lot of fun to read aloud, and the kid immediately took it over and read it to herself. It’s a perfect followup to book one, and the only thing that could be better is to have book three (scheduled for next year) in hand already.
Previously, we carried the first three chapters of the new Glorkian Warrior; this time around, I hand-picked chapter three for your enjoyment. You’ll find it below, courtesy of First Second Books.
The Glorkian Warrior Eats Adventure Pie
-Cory Doctorow
