Cover Image: The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase

The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase

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A review of this title is avaliable through Goodreads - and later through my blog. The Goodreads link is available below!

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Book Review: The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox
I love The Librarians so much. It's my favorite currently airing television show.   The first book was also enjoyable and I was excited to get to …
https://vexingcircumstance.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/book-review-the-librarians-and-the-mother-goose-chase-by-greg-cox/

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Flynn is missing and Mother Goose is on the loose contrary to the Mother Goose Treaty of 1918 in this fun romp that splits the Librarians and sends them to rural Ohio, Northampton (England) and Miami (Florida) to find descendants of the original Mother Goose. And back at the Library, a loose goose leads to mayhem and destruction. After several adventures, many puzzles solved, and strange transformations, disaster is averted and peace is restored. An enjoyable read.

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In 1719, Elizabeth Goose published a collection of rhyming spells as a children's book, creating a spellbook of terrifying power. The Librarian of that age managed to dispose of all copies of the book except one, which remained in the possession of Elizabeth Goose and her family, temporarily averting any potential disaster. Now, strange things are happening around the world. A tree-trimmer in Florida is blown off his elevated perch by a freak gust of wind, a woman in rural Pennsylvania is attacked by mutant rodents without any eyes, and a college professor in England finds herself trapped inside a prize pumpkin at a local farmer’s market. Baird and her team of Librarians suspect that the magic of Mother Goose is again loose in the world, and with Flynn AWOL—again—it is up to Cassandra, Ezekiel, and Stone to track down the missing spellbook before the true power of the rhymes can be unleashed.
I am a fan of the TV show so I was excited when I saw this available. The book was great. It fit right along with the TV show. The author did an amazing job in capturing the characters and getting the feel of the show. I can’t wait to read more books like this! I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

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"The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase, an original novel based on the hit television show, The Librarians by New York Times bestselling author, Greg Cox.

For millennia, the Librarians have secretly protected the world by keeping watch over dangerous magical relics. Cataloging and safeguarding everything from Excalibur to Pandora’s Box, they stand between humanity and those who would use the relics for evil.

Stories have power.

In 1719, Elizabeth Goose published a collection of rhyming spells as a children's book, creating a spellbook of terrifying power. The Librarian of that age managed to dispose of all copies of the book except one, which remained in the possession of Elizabeth Goose and her family, temporarily averting any potential disaster.

Now, strange things are happening around the world. A tree-trimmer in Florida is blown off his elevated perch by a freak gust of wind, a woman in rural Pennsylvania is attacked by mutant rodents without any eyes, and a college professor in England finds herself trapped inside a prize pumpkin at a local farmer’s market. Baird and her team of Librarians suspect that the magic of Mother Goose is again loose in the world, and with Flynn AWOL―again―it is up to Cassandra, Ezekiel, and Stone to track down the missing spellbook before the true power of the rhymes can be unleashed."

I enjoy the show so I'm excited to get into this continuation of the show in print form.

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I am sorry for the inconvenience but I don’t have the time to read this anymore and have lost interest in the concept. I believe that it would benefit your book more if I did not skim your book and write a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for the inconvenience.
I will, however, notify you if I decide to pick it up at a later time.

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Having watched the movies and TV series, it is fun to read the books and visualize the TV characters as the ones in the books. Enjoy these stories.

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Received from NetGalley for my honest review
Completed 10/19/17
288 page ebook

This was the 2nd book in the Librarians series, the same as the TV show. While I am not current on the show, I have watched it, and watching the show is pretty pivotal to reading the books. You COULD read the books without the show, but you'd be missing the little nuances, plus they reference things that happened on the show frequently.

In this story, Mother Goose is trying to destroy the world, to create a new one. The Librarians are flung out to different corners of the world to trace down 3 parts of a Mother Goose book before Mother Goose herself.

I really enjoyed this story. It was typical of the Librarians and an interesting story. The characters are very well done to reflect their tv counterparts and I actually listened to the audiobook of this, and the narrator did a really good job of bringing the characters to life. Her Ezekiel and Cassie were especially good, she sounded like a female version of Ezekiel, and she had all Cassies mannerisms and the way she talks down pat. Baird & Stone weren't as good, but probably because they aren't as unique.

My favorite parts were definitely the house in Miami, though it was all enjoyable. The house was unique though and the kind of thing I like, puzzles in puzzles and I liked each time the story went to it. Satisfying, if a bit predictable, ending. Good for any Librarian fans.


Setting = B
Plot = A
Conflict = B+
Characters = B+
Theme = A

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The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase starts off with a bit of Greek mythology—how cool is that?! Well, it’s cool for me because I just love mythology! We got a glance at the infamous Calydonian Boar which was initially defeated by the amazing Atalanta way back when. And now Eve and the new Librarians have to figure out how to put it down once more. I really enjoyed this! It was very action-y! There was also a bit more mythology later on in the book, which, again, I very much enjoyed. You know I’m a sucker for it ;)

As for the main story, I’m gonna be honest: It sounds kinda silly. I mean, nursery rhymes basically bringing the world to an end? What?! Lol. But is was serious stuff! Okay, not that serious. Which is what I love about this series! Yes, the world is in peril basically on a weekly basis, but this series is so much fun! And I really liked the Mother Goose aspect to this book—I thought it was very creative!

This time around, the Librarians split up to search for the three missing Mother Goose volumes. And when those volumes come together and become one book again... they are doomed!

So the Librarians, with the help of some descendants, must find these books before the evil Mother Goose herself (or someone pretending to be her) gets her hands on all three books and destroys the world.

I really liked following the three Librarians on their individual adventures, as well as seeing how Eve and Jenkins were getting along in the Library where Mother Goose left chaos in her wake. I gotta say, said chaos in the Library was a lot of fun! I mean, you got a unicorn/lion fight, and walking, hungry-for-gold treasure chest, and a loose goose laying golden eggs all over the place! It was amazing!

I mentioned in my review of the previous book, The Librarians and the Lost Lamp, how I felt like there were a couple of instances where the characters said something that they wouldn’t really, as per their characterization in the TV show. However, in this book, I feel like the characters were portrayed much more true to the TV show, which is great because I just love these characters!

There was one mystery in the book, who this Mother Goose really was, whether she was the real deal or an impostor, and let’s just say I wasn’t the biggest fan of the reveal. I did not see it coming, I’ll give it that, but it was kind of insane! I just don’t really know how I feel about it...

But overall, I really enjoyed this book! This story was a lot of fun, the adventure is great, I love the magic, the characters are amazing, and just... so much yes! I highly recommend this series! Even if you have not seen the TV show, I feel like you could enjoy these books as well!

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The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox does a terrific job capturing everything about the show: the voice of the characters, the type of magical mysteries they solve, the details of what they do and the places they do it in, a good amount of quirky humor, even key references to past adventures.

It turns out that the rhymes of Mother Goose are actually spells, and the heirs of the original assembler are pulled into a threat of destroying the world, starting with the tear-down of a decaying Mother Goose amusement park. Abandoned theme parks are the saddest, and it’s a great idea for a dynamic, visual setting described so well I could easily picture it.

Typical of such group investigations, the characters are sent off on separate missions until the finale when they save the day. Unfortunately, while that’s understandable from a writing perspective, my favorite part of the show is seeing the team work together, so I missed seeing more of that. Overall, though, this is a good read for fans of the show to carry them over until it returns for its fourth season.

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For those who enjoy the television series, The Librarians, this is a novel that should be added to your to read list. The librarians investigate a series of strange events that are related to nursery rhymes. They must find the three parts of a book written in 1719 by Elizabeth Goose which was a book of spells written as a children's book.

I thought the book was true to the characters in the television series. It should since Greg Cox does indeed write for the show.

A fun read!

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The book is a little different from the TV series but is fun and full of adventure. An enjoyable leisure read and characters who are easy to root for. Recommended for middle-school kids and up. (This is from a parent’s perspective.)

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THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE, the second in The Librarians series, follows our intrepid Librarians as they fight a Mother Goose who is intent on ending the world. Sounds like pretty standard Librarian fare, yes? While it definitely fits the Librarian playbook, THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE is entertaining, action-packed and even has a reveal at the end that I didn't see coming.

I didn't feel that this installation in The Librarians series was as good as the previous book, THE LIBRARIANS AND THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST LAMP. It felt a little more forced to me. However, that doesn't mean it wasn't a fun read. I feel like you're getting exactly what you would expect from a book based on a TV show - the characters all match up with their TV personas and the references to prior adventures on the TV show are ever-present. The new characters introduced certainly shook things up a bit, and I really enjoyed how each Librarian was paired with a different person who ended up helping them out as they tried to resolve the situation. There is a little less interaction between the main characters, however, as they are separated for most of the book, so if that is the main draw for you, you might be a little disappointed.

Since THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE is based on a TV show, and it is the second in a series, it does assume a bit of prior knowledge of the world and the characters, though there are frequent references to main character traits and any information needed about past adventures is definitely explained. It wouldn't be too difficult to pick this one up without having any prior knowledge of the show, and if you like stories with a little bit of mythology (as some of the full Mother Goose rhymes are discussed) this one would fit the bill.

If you're a fan of The Librarians TV show, THE LIBRARIANS AND THE MOTHER GOOSE CHASE is something you should pick up. It's a quick read (though it took me a little while to get immersed into the world again) and it should tide you over while you're waiting for season 4 of the TV show to air. If not already a fan, I'd suggest starting with book one and going from there.

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The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase is a solid second entry in the literary annals of The Librarians, a fun follow-up by Greg Cox to last year's The Librarians and The Lost Lamp. Having already proven his grasp of the characters and their world, he's free to be a bit more playful this time around. It does lack the tension of the first, coming across as more a comedy of errors than a real life-and-death pursuit, but that's pretty much in keeping with the pacing of the series itself.

This time around, we discover that the original Mother Goose nursery rhymes were actually a dangerous spell book, one that was split apart and entrusted to three different descendants as part of the Mother Goose Treaty of 1918. A century later, it appears as if the planned demolition of a Mother Goose themed amusement park has prompted a return to the magic nursery rhymes.

"I don't plan, I act. I go by rhyme, not reason. I do as the spirit moves me. I am my own muse, the one true Mother Goose. No plans for me, only inspired flights of fancy!"

As a whole, the book is rather silly, but in an altogether clever way. Cox expands upon the verses we all know so well, going back to their darker, more sinister origins, and using them to serve as clues to a trio of treasure hunts. While all of this is going on, Colonel Baird and Jenkins are left to guard the Library itself from a hungry treasure chest, in a room-to-room battle that involves a lion, a unicorn, Excalibur, and more. As for Flynn, he's largely absent for this one, but the twist explaining why makes for an interesting finale.

If you're a fan, and can't wait for the new season to begin this fall, The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase is a great fix for riding out the wait.

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The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase by Greg Cox is the second book in The Librarians trilogy. Eve Baird along with Cassandra Cillian, Jake Stone, and Ezekiel Jones have just returned to the Library annex in Portland, Oregon after another successful mission. They are all off to relax with the Clippings Book (and the librarians miniature versions) start acting up. A professor in Northumberland wakes up inside a pumpkin, a tree trimmer in Miami gets carried away by a freaky wind, a librarian in Ohio found three mice without eyes in her kitchen (and she attacked them with a butcher knife), and Mother Goose’s Magic Garden, an amusement park, is about to be demolished. Jenkins believes that the 1918 Mother Goose Treaty has been broken. In the 1700s Elizabeth Goose created a spellbook that ended up getting published. The Librarian at that time rounded up all the copies except one which remained with the family. It ended up getting divided into three sections for the three different factions of the Goose family. It seems that a descendant has decided to stage a coup and claim all three copies. Stone, Cassandra, and Ezekiel each take a different clipping and set off. Eve and Jenkins have their hands full in the Library. Mother Goose’s magic has set off the goose that lays the golden egg. They need to catch it and return it to its cage before more magical items start acting up. Just another typical day for the Librarians and their Guardian! Join Eve, Ezekiel, Stone, Jenkins and Cassandra on another fun adventure in The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase.

The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase is just bewitching. Greg Cox captured the quirky character’s personalities perfectly (for those of you who watch the show) as well as the Library. I could just envision the Library from the written descriptions. I found the book to be well-written, engaging, and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed the humor in this story. I found myself laughing out loud many times while reading The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase (especially when Jenkins was trying to capture the goose and Eve with Dead Man’s Chest). The book has a fast pace that never slacks. The description of Mother Goose was spot on from the children’s books. I give The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase 5 out of 5 stars. I do wish, though, that the mystery had not been so easy to solve. One clue was all I needed to identify the responsible party. The book is written with four points-of-view (Cassandra, Stone, Ezekiel, and Eve) which works for this book. It is not confusing or complicated. If you have not watched the show or the movies, you can read the book. The author provides the backstory needed. I think it does help, though, to have watched the show. As I read the book, I could picture it in my head. I have not had the opportunity to read The Librarians and The Lost Lamp (first book in trilogy), but I have moved it to the top of my TBR pile.

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Cassandra, Ezekiel and Stone, guardians for the Library that houses magical items, set out on a search for the missing parts of the Mother Goose spells after a series of odd events. There is lots of action and adventure as they battle Mother Goose, the Three Blind Mice and others in a attempt to get the spell book and stop Humpty Dumpty from being put back together again because that would be the end of the world as we know it. The book is full of action and a fun read!

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This was a fantastic novelization for a fun tv series. The irreverent humour of the tv series translates to the page well. The idea of a treaty governing the rhymes of Mother Goose was intriguing (they are actually spells, and never should have been written down), and two of the three original characters were very appealing (the female professor was very much a non-entity). I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Ezekiel and the elderly librarian/Farmer's Wife.

Longer review to come on Goodreads and my website.

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This book is a true delight for fans of the TV hit "The Librarians." While staying true to the characters, new adventures are in store. The novel format allows Cox to delve deeper and create a more challenging, twisting plot than is typically seen in a forty-five minute show. I love the play with nursery rhymes and the surprise reveals that keep the audience guessing. This is a must read!

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I read The Librarians and the Lost Lamp a couple of weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it because it felt so much like an episode of the show, including all of the madcap adventure and especially all of the banter. I had a great time, just as I do when I watch The Librarians. It was fun!

But The Librarians and the Mother Goose Chase felt like it was more of a strain. The Librarians, of course, are always a bit strained in the midst of yet another hair-raising case, but there was something about this one that made it feel like a strain for the reader, too. Or at least this reader.

Fair warning, I may get a bit meta here. It’s hard to review a media tie-in novel without some references to the media it ties into, and how it “feels” related to how the original feels, And works. I would say or doesn’t work but the fact is that a person for whom the original does not work is unlikely to read novels based on it. My 2 cents.

Part of what makes The Librarians work as a show is their marvelous team dynamic. The Librarians and their Guardian are a close knit team and also kind of a family. What they do is designed to be a bit outside the mundane world, and they of necessity have bonded together. Along with Jenkins, the combination archivist, caretaker and zookeeper of the Library and the Library Annex in Portland they work out of.

On the one hand, parts of this story provide a marvelous and much broader view of just how big, how strange, and how magical the Library’s collections truly are. Nobody wants the job of cleaning the pen that holds the Goose that Lays the Golden Eggs, but it’s a dirty job and somebody has to do it. Usually Jenkins.

On that other hand, the Librarians spend a lot of this story on separate parts of the quest. This group is stronger when it’s together. It’s also funnier and occasionally more heartwarming when it’s together. So for this reader story lost some of its steam when it separated the group, Also the way they were split up felt a bit contrived. Their separate quests seem to rely on their weaknesses more than their strength, and the individuals they were paired up with instead felt like contrivances designed to teach them each something rather than get the job done. As usual, my 2 cents and your mileage may vary.

And the action got a bit bogged down as it split into four separate stories, which at times felt a bit repetitious.

The concept that Mother Goose was not only real but a powerful witch who encoded her spells into nursery rhymes fits right into the mythos of the Library. That her magic could get out of hand if left in the hands of the “wrong people” could make an episode or a great story.

But the way that this one wrapped up, which unfortunately I did see coming a mile away, fell flat. Again, at least for this reader.

So, as much as I love The Librarians, I didn’t have nearly as much fun with Mother Goose as I did with the Lost Lamp.

Escape Rating C+: The scenes where Eve and Jenkins are chasing several of the Library’s more colorful (and volatile) exhibits around the Library are hilarious. My personal favorite is when Jenkins throws Arthur’s Crown at the Sword Excalibur and tells it to play “Keep Away” with the King of Beasts and the Unicorn. Eve’s solution to the problem of the Dead Man’s Chest was also lot of fun. But the gang spends too much time not being a gang, and I missed the way they play off of each other much too much.

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