When Sparkles is being a real pain in the butt, if Death sneezes, Sparkles farts. Yes, there is little kid humor (and this kid found it amusing) in Death & Sparkles book one. Yet, there is a lot going on that is serious in the middle of all of this humor. The idea of fame and true friendship is the focus, while we have evil managers (Colonel Parker had nothing on Sparkles manager!) and cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes. While some sensitive readers/listeners might not be okay with the fact there is death (spoiler: Sparkles dies; sort of) and fantasy action, for the most part it is done in a Cartoon Network level, and therefore probably a lot tamer than what kids see in TV/movies/etc.
Rob Justus decided at some point in their career that they were going to write a story about a unicorn who is more famous than Brad Pitt (and better looking in my humble opinion) and with a bigger attitude than the diva of the moment. And then Justus decided that Death would be a good idea for a buddy. Even if they kill everything they touch. Except turtles. (Yeah, Death hasn’t figured that one out either). Then they decided to round things up with some alien lizard people who are peeved that humans have taken such poor care of the planet. And in the meantime, there are adventures with a giant cupcake, a purple dragon, a purple evil manager, a obstacle challenge for fame or banishment, and flowers. Oh, and some ticked off farmers. And paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork.
If you didn’t understand that paragraph, that’s fine. I didn’t either. You see, even though Sparkles and Deaths book seems simple, it isn’t and there are parts within parts. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I have a reader copy of book two that I will eventually get to (it’s due November 2023) to see if lightning strikes twice (hopefully not, but Death does have some cool video games).
