Fantasy is such a hard genre for me, but you know what sub genre’s I love? Magic and magical realism (they are nuanced but different). So, when I read the blurb for this one, I was excited, but leery. Oh boy am I glad I read this book because I loved it and had so much fun with it. I ended up finishing this one in one sitting because I just devoured it. I didn’t realize until I picked this up to write the review that this was the start of a new series, and that makes sense, I feel that we got a lot of information about the characters, and it set up a new series so perfectly. The ending made me super excited to keep reading. I ignorantly thought that it just ended on a cliffhanger and was a little perturbed with it but am not pleasantly surprised that I will get some more answers – YAY! The balance between magic and the real world was really a lot of fun and I enjoyed how the author portrayed it. I feel that certain things scratched the surface, but I think that just leaves the door open for the next few books of the series.

I think that this series is going to appeal to YA readers and those who enjoy the genre. It really is a fun and enjoyable read.

Much like Leopold Berry, this book was also a disappointment. Maybe I just had higher hopes as this was supposed to be a YA novel. But aside from some profane language, it reads more like a pre-teen novel. Not only that, it pretty much copies Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, down to having a "hidden" magical world existing right next to the real world, only this time in Los Angeles. There's also a trio of "friends", two mediocre boys, and a somewhat exceptional girl. And even though they are supposed to be a bout 17 years old, they act more like 10 year olds who can drive. None of them were likable or despicable. Basically, none of them elicit any emotion from me.
The magical world building was equally poor. While there was a lot of name dropping of LA sites, they seem random, and the descriptions were not accurate. There's mention of a magical dust shortage, but people seem to be using magic like there was no shortage. Aside from some items that seemed like they could have come from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, there was nothing really magical about Sunderworld. Disneyland may even be more magical.
I managed to finish the book only because I was pleasantly surprised at the progress I was making every time I picked it up. While nothing significant was moving the story along, I was getting closer to the end, so I just kept plugging away. It is definitely one of the most unexciting fictional stories I've ever read.
Definitely not reading Volume 2.

Thank you for the ARC!
I gave this book about 20% and unfortunately I can't seem to get a grasp on Leopold. Usually by then you either root for or abhor the main character but Leopold seems to live up to his reputation, he was just meh... and it's disappointing. I'll try to revisit this book at a later time, maybe when the whole series is out. For now, it definitely has potential, it's just not the right book for me right now.

I don’t think this is something I would normally pick up but I gave it a shot and boy am I glad I did! Such a wonderful read!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC.

I was not expecting much. The title was a total turn-off for me. I think it's because there are an overwhelming amount of books being titled "The (adjective) (noun) of (first name) (last name)." For example, "The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue," "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo," "The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep," et cetera. The only reason I read it is because I have a deeply felt love for the characters that people Ransom Riggs's works.

I am so happy I didn't judge the book by its title. We're launched right into the action of Leopold Berry's life. While there are many familiar characteristics to Leopold, the one that I most identified with was his averageness. Paraphrasing here: The most extraordinary thing about him is how perfectly average he is. Y'all, I felt that in my soul.

The people of Sunderland (a sort of parallel world that has access to magic) are looking for a channeler. Someone who can help defeat the monsters plaguing them and help bring back the Aether (magical energy.) They are not having much luck. Leopold has a .. let's say interesting history with Sunderland, having spent a long time believing it was a tv show, and then using it as a coping mechanism when his mother passes. So when he gets to Sunderland and hears of their search, his bestie Emmett convinces him to go be tested.

What comes next is a rollercoaster ride that forces Leopold to finally stand up for himself and become the type of person he was always meant to be.

I finished this book over the course of 3 days, and it would have been faster if I didn't have my kids this week. You know how everyone recommends Lev Grossman's "The Magicians" for Harry Potter fans? (Yeah, see my review for why that's a terrible suggestion.) Sunderworld is a much more appropriate selection. Granted the book takes place in LA so it's a little bit more gritty than Hogwarts, but this book had tones of Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series.

It's frustrating starting a series that sets up so much in the first book with the knowledge that it will be a long while before continuing. I like to wait until all the books are out in case there is an extended delay (*ahem* Tomi Adeyemi) and knowing how Riggs can spin a series, it may take longer than originally planned. The great thing is, this first book is short and engaging enough that I'll want to re-read it for clues anyway.

This book was do much fun to read. Looking forward to continuing the series. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of Sunderworld, Vol. 1! WOW. I haven’t read a novel this intriguing in quite a while. While I am somewhat familiar with Riggs’s Miss Peregrine books, I feel wholly captivated by this new series. It’s hard to describe what makes this novel so interesting without spoilers, but nevertheless, I’ll try. The world building was, frankly, great—while we get enough context regarding Sunder and its magic, there are just enough gaps to keep the reader intrigued and following along with the mystery. Additionally, the characters feel so fleshed out and lived in. I particularly enjoyed Isabel and Norm, though the titular Leopold Barry is full of surprises as well. That was probably my favorite aspect of this book—it kept me surprised and on the edge of my seat. I never knew where we were going to go or how things were going to end up, which was an incredibly refreshing experience. I can’t wait for the next installment of Sunderworld, but, until then, make sure you check out this first entry!

Reading the description for the The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry, I was instantly intrigued. As the description states we follow Leopold as he starts to see weird occurrences in his daily life that bring him to think that Sunderworld is colliding with his life and is calling him to enter this world. When Leopold's mom passed away he found video recordings of a 90s series called Sunderworld, that his mom worked on. This tv series took him into another world that involved monsters, called noxum, and magic to defeat them. Becoming obsessed with the series he starts to see things occur in real life, stating that these are episodes. He encounters these episodes for about a year until they subside...that's until now. With stress building up in his life he starts to see these strange occurrences, such as a raccoon on fire, a subway train that isn't actually there, and a man putting a tooth into a parking meter.

We then follow Leopold as he enters Sunder and finds out that all of these episodes are real occurrences that he's meant to see to lead him to this world. The thing guiding him, is a map left by his mom. Intrigued by this magical map he follows it to uncover something his mom has left behind for him after all these years. Leopold encounters new people in Sunder and we get to come along on this trippy adventure that's really unique and exciting.

This book was unlike any other book I read and really had me intrigued. The first book in the series left me with some unanswered questions and I'm excited to read more from this series. It was such a quirky and adventurous book with a writing style that was easy to read. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers--Dutton Books for Young Readers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A madcap ride thru an alternate world laid over LA's landscape.

Larry (Leopold) grew up loving a standard 80s live-action kids show called Sunderworld... the problem is, since his Mom died, he keeps seeing snippets of Sunderworld showing up in real life.

Convinced that he's losing his mind, he turns to his best friend, who supports him, tries to talk him out of it... and accidently stumbles into the Alterate World.

Confronted by his wildest childhood dreams coming true, Larry finds that, as always, he may not be the hero he thinks he is...

...or is He?

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is highly unusual. It takes you all over L.A., in increasingly bizarre ways. You will be left to wonder if Larry Leopold Berry is important…or not.

You will probably have the same opinion about Leopold’s father that I do.

Although it’s strange, not unlike how I would imagine a profane Harry Potter on LSD, it’s an intriguing ride on a rickety trolley car, and I look forward to the next installment.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton Books for Young Readers for gifting me an eARC. My review is entirely voluntary.

Ebook was received for free through NetGalley

Absolutely adored this book. Loved the premise and love the characters. Feels unique and I can’t wait to find out what happens next.

I’ve had an interesting history with Riggs’ books. The first three Miss Peregrine’s books saw me through a really rough time in high school, and Map of Days proved to me that Riggs was an author who wasn’t content sticking to what had worked in the past, who was willing to take risks and take characters to new places.

But then Conference of the Birds came out and restored the exact status quo I had praised Map of Days for moving away from. I still haven’t finished that series.

Regardless, the discussion here is about Sunderworld, not Peregrine, though in the confusion lies the problem. While the concept sounded fresh, intriguing, and exciting on paper, the execution worked out to a near beat for beat retread of the first Miss Peregrines.

That said, Riggs still knows how to build a parallel world that is genuinely interesting. The few Sunderhoods we get to see are vibrant, the characters are unique, and the magic is exciting. I think a lot of teens are going to relate to Leopold the same way I once related to Jacob, and even ordinary LA is rendered with loving attention. Readers who haven’t read Riggs’ other work may even praise this story for originality, which isn’t underserved: this flavor of portal fantasy still manages to be fresh.

I’ll be back for the next entry. I have hope that the story will take some turns I’m not expecting and set itself apart from its predecessors. But I’ve been burned before, and I try not to make a habit of it.

Read this book if you would love to see a combination of the magic of The Never-Ending Story with the drama and puzzles of The Inheritance Games.
Sunderworld V1: The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry is a fast-paced, world-building adventure. It begins with Leopold "Larry" Berry trying to find his place in the world, only to realize that his place is perhaps in another world that he may or may not be hallucinating. This is YA, but the language and violence makes it less suitable for early YA readers, in my opinion. I loved the imaginative world Riggs creates for us here. It feels like what I hoped Miss Peregrine's would turn out to be from the first chapter: dark, mysterious, but also somehow realistic and fanciful too.
This book is the first in a series, and it unfortunately does not answer a single question within itself. I think that is a weakness of this novel as an introduction to the series. I would like there to be at least something to feel satisfaction in understanding here, but the multitude of remaining questions are still extremely compelling, enough so that I will definitely be returning for more.
Massive thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers - Dutton For Young Readers for this ARC!

There are a lot of books about magic - the genre called fantasy, you know - where magic figures profusely, but after all it is just a literary device, as it stands for something else: exciting world-building, adventure, character development. And then there are books that remind us that there's more to our own world than we thought. That there's, essentially, magic here, too.

So, where do I start? There's a Leopold Berry, known to people around him as Larry. He's seventeenth, prime time to start thinking whether his career will be in law or investment banking - according to his father, at least, who believes anything else would be a disappointment and Leopold has been a disappointment since the day he was born. Leopold moved in with his father five years ago, after his mother's death, to deal with the emotional aftermath of which he binge-watched the VHS tapes of a forgotten tv series from the 90s, The Sunderworld found among his mother's belongings.... until he, apparently, had too much of it, so that he started to have visions of the things and characters from the series on the streets of his native LA. Weird and uncanny episodes: a person pulling out a tooth from his mouth and depositing it into a parking meter before disappearing in a hole in the ground that opened up in response... a raccoon with a tail ablaze perched on a sycamore tree... a weary parking lot attendant with a pair of wings showing from her shoulder blades... Everyone agreed that that should have been his brain's way of processing the trauma, and Larry grew to believe that himself after all. Until he started seeing into Sunder, as he had been calling it, again, now aged seventeen, when the prospect that his apparent hallucinations have returned might have a much more profound effect on his life than when he was a legitimately grief-ridden pre-teen.

If you are holding in your hands a book that is tagged "YA fantasy," you can probably guess that ultimately it should turn out that magic isreal in that fictional world and that Sunder does, indeed, exist, no spoilers in mentioning that. It must have been only waiting for the protagonist to find his way there by proving that he's not one of the perfectly average and unremarkable philistines (all those ETA Hoffmann vibes, if you know what I mean). But yet, even keeping that genre-related expectations in mind, those first 20% of the book while Leopold is still on the fence about the existence of magic, have been a piece of pure magic for me. I would have forgiven the story for going in any direction after that. But that was totally unnecessary from my side, as the author continued to bend the expectations and veer off the downtrodden paths that he himself had delineated by introducing the story from the tv series that had impressed Larry so much back when he was twelve. Won't give away anything about those, so as not to spoil the fun!

I'm not technically the age of the target audience of YA fiction, you know. But I'm pretty sure I would have given a lot to get hold of such a book some twenty years ago, when I was. Yet, it also holds some of the crossover value - at least if you were that teen who would appreciate such a read once upon a time. And that's clearly enhanced by the esthetics of those '90s tv shows with clunky special effects that worked no less effectively than contemporary sleek CGIs to transport the viewer into the world of make-believe.

I have just one thing to complain about: how long should I wait for the second part now? But I could have guessed that from the "vol.1" in the title, I imagine.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group and Dutton Books for Young Readers for providing me with a free eARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of Ransom Riggs. I loved the Peregrine series (I think I read them all, they sort of melted together toward the end there) and I have high hopes for these Sunderworld books, which I suspect there will be many if this 1st one is any indication.

There's a mix of Neal Gaiman and Harry Potter here in this novel and my 4 star rating is specifically made with the idea in mind that Riggs does a lot of tip-toeing around what the hell is actually going on in this book. Leopold is a cool character and his friends have strong development, but I have to say that there was a lot of space that was taken up with a ton of trope-like chasing around and figuring out how things work and where things go. I think that Riggs could've simplified things a bit and given his audience a lot more to work with if he just explained things more quickly and concisely, but what do I know? I've never written a book and I don't if I've mentioned this before, but I suspect that this will be a very lengthy series. It's an exciting story all said, just a lot of steps to get to one little nugget of info and then another and so on.

One thing I was curious about was Leopold's dad. Richter is an ass. However, he speaks of his dad on some occasions as a good dude. It's very unclear what or who his father was or is before his mother and after. I need more clarification and that ending did not help my confusion. Oh well. I'm definitely here for the ride, so I will jump into the next one. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Really cool of y'all.

Vol I is a great start to a new series by Riggs and I’m very excited to see where the next book takes us. The title says it all about Leopold, his day, week, past 6 years have been extraordinarily disappointing. Is he the disappointment or is he not being given a fair shot? You’ll have to read and make your own judgment.

I love how how Sunderworld overlaps with the real world. I am looking forward to learning more about it alongside Leopold and seeing more on how his friend Emmett fits into the rest of the puzzle.

Thanks to Ransom Riggs and Penguin Dutton for providing me with a copy of this book.
Do you like strange things? Puzzles? Things that are and are not at the same time? You'll like this book. The main character is called Leopold, Larry, and Lunchtray. Throughout the book various characters carry Focusers. What do they do exactly? Still not sure. Other characters use portable holes that can be picked up and moved to get places. Didn't those appear in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon? The main story recounts Leopold escaping from the world of his tyrannical father into the world of an old TV program, Sunderworld. The main action takes place in Los Angeles, whether we are in Sunderworld or not. Leopold's friend Emmet tags along with him. In Sunderworld, various improbable events happen. Some happen using magic. There are lots of chases. Yeah, that's pretty much all I could make of it. Lots of creativity here. Characterization? Not so much. Plausibility? Let's not get into that. But if you are looking for a weird crazy romp, you'll like this book.

(I shared on goodreads a 5 star review but i cant figure out how to share the link of the review) Thank you Netgalley for an ARC! I was so excited for this book as I'm currently really getting into the Miss Peregrine's series and it's amazing to get a copy of this! The story is so great not only have I read the book but I also pre-ordered a copy aswell!

Onto the review! The story follows Leopold(Larry) who is an amazingly average in every way. He isn't good at anything or bad at anything just incredibly average. He starts seeing into Sunderworld which he first heard of after watching the VCR tapes after his mother passed away such as seeing someone put a tooth into a parking meter and going underground or seeing flaming raccoons.
With his best friend Emmett by his side he realizes that Sunderworld is real and it starts an amazing adventure! I cannot wait to see where Emmett and Leopold and friends go next!

Reminiscent of Harry Potter, the author produces a great story of a world hidden from the ordinary world.
There is magic, bad things (Noxums), and political strife.

I loved the story and the blending of the real and the Sunderhill world.

The one drawback that was a bit of a slog to get through was the pages upon pages of references of the Los Angeles places/roads/streets. I don't know LA enough to care and it was a bit boring to get through that.

However, I loved the end and Emmets fascination with puzzles.

This book left me wanting more and I can't wait to see where the author goes with the series.

Ransom Riggs creates a new world for us to wander and I'm all in! At first I was worried about the silliness of the magic, the despair of Larry's life, and questioned my decision to read thus. But Riggs sucked me right in and I was hooked then devastated the story came to an end too soon. Would definitely recommend! Can't wait for Vol. 2!