Book Review- Grendel's Guide to Love and War by A. E. Kaplan

Most of the books I’ve reviewed so far on this blog have been books that are at least relatively familiar to people I know. I decided maybe it was time to read something brand-new that nobody else seems to know about.

Grendel’s Guide to Love and War is a young adult fiction book published this year. It tells the story of a boy named Tom Grendel, who is on a mission to shut down these wild parties that are being thrown every night at his neighbor’s house. Grendel’s mom died about eight years ago, and Grendel’s dad has terrible PTSD. Plus, Grendel’s neighborhood, Lake Heorot, is inhabited almost exclusively by old ladies. Suffice it to say that the extra noise is not appreciated. Unfortunately for Tom, a boy named Rex Rothgar lives next door to Tom and he literally could not care less if his all-night parties are disturbing the rest of the neighborhood. Rex Rothgar also has a sister named Willow and Tom is pretty sure he’s in love with Willow (but actually… no. He’s seventeen.). Tom decides that if he can’t talk any sense into Rex, he’ll have to shut down the parties some other way. He tries his hardest, and enlists his older sister, Zip, and his best friend, Ed, but is still unsuccessful. Then things get worse when Rex’s cousin Wolf shows up and decides to make life even more difficult for Tom than it has been for the last two weeks. Finally, though, the meanest old lady in the neighborhood finds Tom and helps him come up with a prank of epic proportions that finally brings peace back to the neighborhood once and for all.

This book is now one of my favorite young adult books. It’s super smart and funny, and the narrator is more likeable and relatable than a lot of other narrators. I also just love all of the references to Beowulf, although I’m not entirely sure what purpose they serve. I hope that in a few years from now, this book will be as huge as The Fault in Our Stars was about four years ago.

4.5/5 stars