Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory: Choose Your Own Adventure, Review + Giveaway
Today I have something fun to share with you! It's the Harrison Squared Tie-In Choose Your Own Adventure game! Filled with extra material and illustrations, this game does not require one to have read Harrison Squared previously but definitely will pull you into the spooky world Daryl Gregory has created. I had a ton of fun choosing my own adventure and hope you follow Harrison Squared on your own adventure. I also have a REVIEW for you to check out and a GIVEAWAY thanks to the wonderful people at Tor Books!
Choose your Own Tentacular Adventure with the Lovecraftian HARRISON SQUARED
HARRISON SQUARED by Daryl Gregory follows Harrison Harrison—H2 to his mom—on a creepy adventure as he hunts down a mystery in the Lovecraftian town of Dunnsmouth, Massachusetts.
You can test the waters (though beware of tentacles!) with this Choose Your Own Adventure game: step into H2’s shoes and through the doors of Dunnsmouth Secondary into a wriggling riddle—just mind the puddles…and the shark.
Harrison Squared Dies Early
Written by Daryl Gregory
Art by David Hinnergardt
HARRISON SQUARED
By Daryl Gregory
A Tor Hardcover
Title: Harrison Squared
Author: Daryl Gregory
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre Type: Contemporary Fantasy, Lovecraftian
Publication Date: March 24th 2015
Publisher: Tor Books
From award winning author Daryl Gregory comes a thrilling and colorful Lovecraftian adventure of a teenage boy searching for his mother, and the macabre creatures he encounters.
Harrison Harrison—H2 to his mom—is a lonely teenager who’s been terrified of the water ever since he was a toddler in California, when a huge sea creature capsized their boat, and his father vanished. One of the “sensitives” who are attuned to the supernatural world, Harrison and his mother have just moved to the worst possible place for a boy like him: Dunnsmouth, a Lovecraftian town perched on rocks above the Atlantic, where strange things go on by night, monsters lurk under the waves, and creepy teachers run the local high school.
On Harrison’s first day at school, his mother, a marine biologist, disappears at sea. Harrison must attempt to solve the mystery of her accident, which puts him in conflict with a strange church, a knifewielding killer, and the Deep Ones, fish-human hybrids that live in the bay. It will take all his resources—and an unusual host of allies—to defeat the danger and find his mother.
Review
What I remember are tentacle. Tentacles and teeth.
Magical Scrimshaws, amphibian creatures and a mysterious town infused with the supernatural. Something strange is underfoot in the town of Dunnsmouth, something briny, fishy and definitely otherly!
A fun, macabre adventure!
Harrison Harrison, or as friends and family call him, Harrison Squared-H2, finds himself surrounded by the strange and the bizarre in the small Massachusetts town called Dunnsmouth where he and his mother have just moved to. Harrison's mother, a marine biologist that really seems more like a cryptozoologist, is working on a project involving the tracking of a massive squid when she mysteriously disappears. Thus begins a fun, macabre filled adventure tale with all sorts of Lovecraftian goodness as a teenage boys searches for his lost mother and the briny mystery behind the people of Dunnsmouth.
"I hate this!" I said. "Magic. The supernatural. Before Dunnsmouth, I thought the world was a rational place. I knew how things worked, and if I didn't know, I could figure them out with logic and a little research. I knew the difference between fact and fantasy. But since then I've made friends with an amphibian, fought an ancient killer, and faced down a god."
Harrison Squared is filled with all kinds of strangeness that fans of Lovecraft are sure to enjoy. The story has that strange unexplained cosmic feel to it and there's just enough briny, slimy gooeyness to make you feel slightly squeamish, in a good way. Harrison is a great protagonist, and through him we experience all the weirdness through a smart teens eyes who suddenly realizes there's more to Dunnsmouth than any scientific reasoning could explain. Along the way, Harrison makes some new friends. There's a group of young rebel teens that form a sleuth stylized gang to help Harrison solve the mystery, an eccentric professor, and a boy who is more at home in the water than dry land.
The writing is clever making the story appealing to both adults as well as young adult readers. I would say one of the best aspects of this story is how well the author combines humor with the macabre, making it a great choice for young adults to experience some of the best themes taken from a Lovecraftian style mystery. Nothing is too dark, but the unexplained just creeps up on you. The cast of very strange characters, too many to list, all added to the fun and strangeness that kept me turning the pages. Three lunch ladies that reminded me of the weird Norn sisters fighting over the all-seeing eyeball, a helpful ghost, and even an amphibian boy who loves Manga.
Macabre atmosphere, a strange mystery and a cast of great characters made this a delightful read. Tentacles, teeth, and scrimshaw included!
My rating: 4 stars. I really liked it!
PLEASE NOTE: A courtesy review copy of this book was provided by Tor Books in exchange for my fair review. Thank you, Tor Books the review opportunity!
Giveaway
One finished copy of Harrison Squared open to US and Canadian addresses.
DARYL GREGORY was the 2009 winner of IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award for his first novel Pandemonium. His second novel, The Devil's Alphabet, was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award and was named one of the best books of 2009 by Publishers Weekly. His short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, and The Year’s Best SF. He has also written comics for BOOM! Studios and IDW.
