Message Drowns Out Plot
The first FunJungle book was my introduction to Stuart Gibbs, and while I’ve enjoyed all his books over the years, I’m always happy to return to this world. So you can imagine how disappointed I am to say that Whale Done, the eighth in the series, disappointed me.
Teddy Fitzroy is on vacation again in this book, this time in Malibu with his girlfriend, Summer McCracken, and Summer’s mother. They are visiting a friend of Mrs. McCracken who lives right on the beach in Southern California. Unfortunately, the beach stinks right now since a whale has beached itself and died. The head veterinarian from FunJungle is there as well, as he is planning to assist his friend who works for NOAA on the autopsy to find out exactly what happened to the whale, but before they can do that, the whale explodes. Obviously, someone is trying to hide something. Can Teddy figure out what is really happening?
Those who follow the series will remember that the previous book in the series also took place outside of FunJungle. I get it, it can be hard to keep coming up with realistic stories to tell in the FunJungle park. Yet, for me, that’s part of the charm of the series. I love the setting, so I am willing to forgive much to spend time hanging out there. We do get a couple of chapters in the park that help set up the story before Teddy lands in Los Angeles, but that’s it. We don’t see many of the series regulars either as a result.
I do love books set in locations I am familiar with, so the fact that we were in Los Angeles for this book helped offset the disappointment, at least for me. Since Stuart lives in LA, he presented life here as it really is, the good and the bad, which was fun.
The plot was a mixed bag. As usual, there were clues in the story that we could have picked up on and Teddy used to solve the mysteries he was confronted with. However, we spend a lot of time speculating on reasons someone might want to hide their involvement in the death of the whale. These turned into a laundry list of how humans are destroying the oceans. Now, don’t misunderstand me, we do need to care for the environment. And I get that these types of issues have been a staple of the series – it’s a natural extension of the setting and mysteries that Teddy finds himself in. But here, these scenes felt more like lectures than an organic part of the plot. It’s something I’ve felt creeping into the series as it goes along, and this is the worst case.
Still, as I said, the ultimate solutions were logical and I was left impressed with how Teddy figured it out since I had the same clues but didn’t make the connections he did.
Of course, it is always a pleasure to hang out with Teddy and Summer. I loved the development they and their relationship got here. We meet some interesting new characters along the way, and I got a kick out of seeing how FunJungle’s veterinarian was behaving.
Fans of the series will still find things to enjoy in Whale Done, and they’ll be glad they read it.
However, if you are new to the series, I recommend you pick up one of
the earlier books in the series before reading this one.
The cover is cute!
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