What can I say about The Unspeakable Unknown? This novel is a sequel to Eliot Sappingfield’s previously successful A Problematic Paradox. To find anything to which I can compare this book, I can only suggest that you take The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, put them in a blender, then when it’s all blended, skim off and discard the bits that are lewd, gory, or otherwise unsuited for a middle grade audience. That is what Sappingfeld serves up here.

This story follows Nikola Kross and her friends through a series of adventures in this dimension and others. It depicts strong friendships and devotion between the characters, and some characters even go out of their way and risk danger to help characters with whom they are not necessarily the best of friends, which should appeal to young readers. The book is packed with humor from start to finish, and the main character’s sarcastic wit provides a clever narrative perspective. As Nikola says of herself, “Are you comfortable with sarcasm? If not, huge chunks of this story aren’t going to make a lot of sense.”

In addition to the excellent story, it is obvious that Sappingfield has more than a passing interest in science. Though many of the inventions and situations in the novel are not real, he describes them in such a way and with such logical terminology that a reader believes that they could be real one day. Making things not just outlandish – but outlandishly believable – is a hallmark of classic sci-fi and one that Sappingfield uses skillfully.

This book was thoroughly enjoyable, even without reading the preceding book. The author brings new readers up to speed on the past events with enough information to understand the current story and a brevity that won’t bore someone who is already familiar with his works. I would recommend this book for any middle grade lover of the science-fiction or action-adventure genres.

This book was sent to Compass Book Ratings for review by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  13 religious exclamations; 4 mild obscenities.

Violence/Gore:  Several verbal threats; mention of danger of death in childbirth; a fight with minor injuries and some property damage; report of a destroyed machine; report of an attempted kidnapping and murder in the past; report of a character’s brain melting (no details or gore, event is mentioned a few times); report of torture; characters hit or pinch each other without intent to harm a few time; characters throws water balloons at each other a few times; a security measure involves poison (but is only mentioned); a character draws his finger across his throat as a threat (humorous); mention of past use of a nuclear bomb; report of a booby trap rigged to explode; a debate over whether entertainment has too much sex and violence in it; mention of potential dissection of characters; a few reports of deaths; mention of deaths in a movie; report of suicides (no details); a character head-butts and punches others a few times; characters are attacked and tortured mentally a few times; a machine hits and drags a character; gas is used to incapacitate characters; a character breaks a glass object over another character’s head; an animal bites a character, drawing blood; a character threatens to kill another with a sci-fi invention; a chase scene including a minor vehicle accident and sci-fi weapons in which a monster is killed; a character shoots another at point-blank range, inflicting major damage with little description; an adult slaps a child; a character shoots a monster, wounding it; characters bang their heads on floors and walls or claw and hit themselves while under mind control a few times; a character suggests that another character should commit suicide; a character threatens to remove another character’s brain; a character is buried in a cave-in. 

Sex/Nudity:  A few mentions of a girl having a crush on a boy; a debate over whether entertainment has too much sex and violence in it; a character uses mind control to make another character love her; characters hug; a female character is referred to as a “trollop”. 

Mature Subject Matter:

Kidnapping; torture (no graphic details); blackmail; bribery; government corruption; computer hacking; suicide (mention).

Alcohol / Drug Use:

A character tries unsuccessfully to use a cigarette; mention of buying wine and cigars; drugs used on a prisoner (mention); a character is sent to take a drug test.