The Buttersmiths' Gold
BATTLES. BLUEBERRIES. BOVINES.
TORBJORN AND STORFJELL’S HISTORY UNFOLDS IN AN EPIC EVERTASTER NOVELLA.
Everyone knows the most coveted treasure of the Viking Age was blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins so succulent that if you sniffed just a whiff, you'd want a whole bite. If you bit a bite, you'd want a batch; if you snatched a batch, you'd stop at nothing short of going to war just to claim them all.
Young Torbjorn Trofastsonn comes from the clan that makes them. He's a Viking through and
through – he's thirteen winters old, larger than most respectable rocks, and most of all, a Buttersmith. That's what he thinks anyway, until a charismatic merchant makes Torbjorn question his place among the muffin-makers. When Torbjorn lets the secret of his clan's muffin recipe slip, he calls doom and destruction down upon his peaceful village and forces his brother Storfjell and his clansmen to do the one thing they are ill-prepared to do: battle for their lives.
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About The Buttersmiths' Gold
The Buttersmiths' Gold is a spin off novella in the Evertaster series that tells the story of two Viking brothers and their adventurous past. The Evertaster series (Book #1 released June 14, 2012) is about Guster Johnsonville, who goes searching for a legendary taste rumored to be the most delicious in all of history. Along the way he meets a slew of mysterious characters, including two Viking brothers Torbjorn and Storfjell. The Buttersmiths' Gold is their story. 124 pages. By Adam Glendon Sidwell. Published by Future House Publishing.
Evertaster, Book #1:
A legendary taste. Sought after for centuries. Shrouded in secrecy.
When eleven-year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother’s casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him into the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city they meet a dying pastry maker. In his last breath he entrusts them with a secret: an ancient recipe that makes the most delicious taste the world will ever know — a taste that will change the fate of humanity forever.
Forced to flee by a cult of murderous chefs, the Johnsonvilles embark on a perilous journey to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves. Along the way they discover the truth: Guster is an Evertaster — a kid so picky that nothing but the legendary taste itself will save him from starvation. With the sinister chefs hot on Guster’s heels and the chefs’ reign of terror spreading, Guster and his family must find the legendary taste before it’s too late.
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MY TAKE
Evertaster
Evertaster is an adorable kids' adventure novel filled with quirky characters, crazy villains and even crazier "monsters" (okay, not exactly monsters, but I don't know what else to call giant man-eating chickens!).
- The unique concept. So, when was the last time you read a book about a boy who saves the world with his incredibly refined palate? Never, you say? Yeah, me neither. This idea was so fun and unique! Guster is an Evertaster - he has such an amazing sense of taste that he can detect not only every ingredient in a recipe, but also exactly what the climate was where the ingredient was grown, who touched it, how much of it was used, and so on and so forth. This seems like a wonderful gift. The only problem is that his sense of taste is so refined that almost nothing will satisfy him and he is literally starving to death. When he hears of a mysterious "perfect" recipe that could bring about world peace and satisfy his incredibly picky taste buds, he just has to find it! However, the ingredients are not so easy to come by and he is being pursued by a gang of murderous chefs who want to use the One Recipe for their own dastardly plans. Like I said, this plot is NOT cookie cutter!
- The fun adventure. I could totally see this book being made into a really fun kids' cartoon. I mean, I could practically see the movie as I was reading it. Each ingredient that Guster needs to find is so imaginative - massive eggs grown on a tree from seeds that are laid by giant, man-eating chickens, sugar crystals growing like stalagmites and stalactites in hidden cave guarded by gorillas, butter that comes straight from the cow (after the cow has been "joggled" properly). Really, I don't know how Sidwell came up with this stuff, but it was so much fun to read!
- Guster's family. I loved the fact that Guster's family was involved in his whole adventure and that they grew closer and closer because of it. They stuck together, even in the midst of all the craziness. I especially appreciated his wonderful, unadventurous mom who had to embrace her inner adventurer. One of my favorite Mom quotes came from the beginning of their search for the One Recipe (when things had just started to get really dangerous):
"Guster! How many times have I told you not to go into dark secret passages in the middle of ancient cities? See? This is exactly what happens when you disobey your mother!"Yep, just another average day in the life of a mom.
What I didn't like:
- Honestly, not much. In order for me to come up with things I didn't like, I have to be pretty nit-picky. There were a few minor editing issues in the book (and I am very picky when it comes to editing - I read one review that said that this book was poorly edited and all I can think is that she must have read a much earlier version of the book because I saw nothing but a few very minor issues). There were also a few points in the end where I wasn't sure why Guster made some of his final decisions (don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into more detail about that). But, overall, I liked most everything about this book!
The Buttersmiths' Gold
The Buttersmith's Gold is a companion novella to Evertaster that tells the history of the butter used in The One Recipe and how it came to be. It is a fun tale that includes Viking wars and giant murderous trolls.
- The history. It was fun to learn about how and why the Vikings originally started "joggling" their cows in order to make their incredibly unique and amazing butter. I also liked that there was a little insight into The One Recipe thrown into this book that you didn't get from Evertaster.
- Torbjorn. I thought that the character of Torbjorn was great - and one that kids would really be able to relate to. He's trying to prove that he's growing up to his father and his clan, but he makes some pretty major mistakes along the way. I love that he is able to redeem himself and save the day in the end!
What I didn't like:
- The tone. Actually, I should clarify and say that there was nothing wrong with the tone of this book. It just wasn't what I was expecting after I had just read Evertaster. Where Evertaster was a fun, humorous adventure, The Buttersmiths' Gold read more like a fable. And while it had its lighthearted moments, it just felt more serious somehow. Again, it's not that this was bad, it just wasn't what I was expecting based on the first book.
Author Adam Sidwell
In between books, Adam Glendon Sidwell uses the power of computers to make monsters, robots and zombies come to life for blockbuster movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean, King Kong, Transformers and Tron. After spending countless hours in front of a keyboard meticulously adjusting tentacles, calibrating hydraulics, and brushing monkey fur, he is delighted at the prospect of modifying his creations with the flick of a few deftly placed adjectives. He’s been eating food since age 7, so feels very qualified to write this book. He once showed a famous movie star where the bathroom was. Adam currently lives in Los Angeles, where he can’t wait to fall into the sea.
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