This book as definitely an adventure. Tommy definitely became stronger. There needs to be more of Tommy and friends.

A coming of age story about an eleven year old named Tommy who is enthralled with and gets lost in the world of an animated program and toy line called the “Order of Cosmic Champions”. When he gets the chance to design his own action figure for a contest but his design fails, Tommy finds his life beginning to mirror his contest failure in more ways than one. With his crumbling friendships and home-life taking a nosedive, Tommy must find the power within himself to forge ahead and defeat his inner demons.

I figured this story would be a gamble for me as it didn’t seem like the type of book I would read.

This was a cute book, but a little too adolescent for me. Along with the writing, I felt that the authors were trying a bit too hard to tick off all the nostalgic references they could, which made it seem less authentic.

Overall, interesting concept and a great read for young adults.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I recieved a free eARC of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it,and share my views.

Sometimes, when I read children's/MG/YA books, they hit differently than they might for a child. I think this is one of the times. Because, I suspect my Stranger Things obsessed students will read this book as Tommy going on his quest, in a strange, alternative universe where the OCC characters are real, that this all happened, and that Tommy managed to beat his personal demons. They'll read it as fantasy.

For me, this book was transportive. Because, you see, while I was aware of Master's of the Universe, She-Ra, and various comics. I spent a good part of the 1980's reading early YA. And many, many books in that time took a look at mental illness or drug abuse or similar experiences, with the character either being saved by an amazing person-a therapist, a teacher, or maybe friends...or dying. All of which I accepted, at the time, as being reality....although in 20/20 hindsight, they were just as fantastic as many of the comic books and TV shows that my parents discouraged.

And that's the world I found myself in during Tommy's tale. That this was an abused at school, bullied, neglected kid who had withdrawn from the world similar to Roger in "The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear", or Robbie in "Mazes and Monsters", having experiences similar to Alice in "Go Ask Alice". In many ways, it was a major relief when Tommy came back to reality, and his life improved-because based on 80's lit, it could go either way!

So, well done for seriously hitting the 1980's retro feel...and taking me back to those days in the school library, where I read books that, while not triggering the Satanic Panic fears (well done call back, BTW) the way Masters...I mean, OCC did, were seriously scary.


I think Stranger Things fans will enjoy this book, as will fans of 1980's fantasy animated TV shows and comics. But it might not be a bad idea for those who remember the 1980's firsthand to read it, too.