Author: Martin Olson
Hardcover: 160 pages
Publisher: Abrams
Release Date: July 22, 2013
Our Score: 5 out of 5 stars
What time is it? ADVENTURE TIME! I have no idea what it is but I am completely obsessed with “Adventure Time”. If you are wondering what you can expect from “The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia”, it is right in the book’s subtitle “Inhabitants, Lore, Spells, and Ancient Crypt Warnings of the Land of Ooo Circa 19.56 B.G.E. – 501 A.G.E”. This is one of the most unique and bizarre shows that I have ever seen…and I love ever minute. The book is author by Martin Olson, who also happens to voice Hunson Abadeer (a.k.a. The Lord of Evil a.k.a Marceline’s dad). If you are an “Adventure Time” fan you are not going to want to miss this fantastic look into the world of the show.
Official Premise: “The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia” matches the playful, subversive tone of the series, detailing everything anyone will ever need to know about the postapocalyptic land of Ooo and its inhabitants—secret lore and spells, fun places you should visit and places where you will probably die, whom to marry and whom not to marry, how to make friends and how to destroy your enemies—plus hand-written marginalia by Finn, Jake, and Marceline. An indispensable companion to the show, this side-splittingly funny love letter to Adventure Time is sure to appeal to fans of all ages.
On the back cover of “The Adventure Time Encyclopaedia” it suggest that this could well be “the most dangerous book in history”, which to me only makes things more interesting. This reminded me of the Book of the Dead from “The Evil Dead” series a bit, but a little less Candarian demon filled. The Encyclopaedia is split into Book I through Book V”. Book I is called “Worthless Inhabitants of the Land of Ooo” and it covers everyone from Finn and Jake to Lumpy Space Princess (my fav, OH MY LUMP!). Book II is called “Utterly Insigificant Inhabitants of the Land of Ooo” including a BMO introductional pamphlet and user guide and more. Book III” is called “The Land of Ooo and You” including Princess Bubblegum’s official travel guide to the Candy Kingdom and beyond! and a travel blog from Marceline. Book IV is called “The Lost Texts of Ooo”, it contains some fun wizard spells – “in which the unspeakable is spoken”. Lastly Book V is titled “Forbidden Chapters in the Encyclopaedia of Ooo” and if you thought the book was crazy till this point it gets even more weird in this one including chapters like “If You Read This Chapter You Will Die”, naturally I skipped that one.
Abrams delivered a fantastic book here for the fans of the show. I hope that this is only the first in a series though since this show has a ton material that they could cover. Martin Olson really has a great knowledge of the show from working on it and really delivers a fun and rather informational compendium. The book itself immediately draws you in with its colorful setup and jam packed pages. Overall, I have been through this book twice and I know that I still missed stuff. So this is one of those books that you will be able to revisit often and still catch something new. Highly recommended.