Blart – The Boy Who Didn't Want to Save the World

‘We all know what should happen when a healthy strong boy of fourteen is offered the chance to save the world from peril… He should pause only to arm himself with his trusty dagger and then he should put his bold feet forward to meet the challenges that lie ahead.’ But when Capablanca the Wizard descends on Blart’s hovel to enlist his help he refuses. All he cares about are his beloved pigs, Wattle and Daub.

According to the Wizard’s researches in the Cavernous Library of Ping, Blart is the first-born son of a first-born son since time immemorial. As such he is the only one who can defeat the wicked Zoltab, currently imprisoned deep in the bowels of the world, but about to be freed by his followers. Capablanca has no choice but to bribe Blart’s Grandfather with gold – easily done, since Blart is hardly filial in his attentions – and compel him on his journey by magic.

Along the way, the pair attracts the quest-hungry Beowulf, a reluctant steed, and a disgruntled princess, and negotiates a variety of absurd and scary obstacles before finally confronting Zoltab. Barker has created a gloriously mulish anti-hero in Blart, ‘… not particularly well-endowed in the vocabulary department’ and has enormous fun with him. He manages a fine balancing act between sending-up and following fantasy conventions – particularly that of gifting characters with preposterous names – so that the reader can enjoy the satisfactions of story alongside the boisterous schoolboy humour.