Archer's Goon

by Diana Wynne Jones

Book Overview

"Face the facts
This town is run by
seven megalomaniac wizards "

When Howard Sykes comes home to find a giant thug -- the Goon -- in the kitchen, life turns upside down. Archer, one of seven siblings who control everything in their town from electricity to the police, has sent the Goon to collect the two thousand words Howard's father owes him. Suddenly, the Sykes family is caught in the middle of the wizards' battle for power -- and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0064473562
• ISBN13: 9780064473569
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Greenwillow Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Amazing story from the start!

The tale of a family who gets stuck with a giant goon, takes a flying leap from the pages and you want to keep reading. The Sykes family are all quite the character’s themselves and you are hook by all of them. I haven’t finished but I can’t wait to! A must read for everyone! You won’t regret adding this book to your collection!! Promise you that!

Great fun and a good read aloud

I've read several of Diana Winne Jone's books and enjoyed them all but this is one of my favorites. It is fun, engaging, and unpredictable. The characters are well drawn and likeable, and the book itself leaves you thinking afterwards. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Good read for young adults or old ones

This is an excellent book. I would recommend it highly to nearly anyone who might possibly enjoy this particular mix of science fiction/fantasy, humor, alternate reality, and writing-about-writing. It gets no recognition, unfortunately, and does not appear to have the cult following I would expect from such an enjoyable, intelligent adventure. I read it when I was ten years old, and nearly ten years later, I still enjoy it and find that, upon rereading, details I may have missed way back when appear and make "Archer's Goon" an even more delightful experience than before.

How can this be? How CAN this be?

This is one of Jones's best. With an incredibly surprising ending--and its anticlimax that is almost as good. One of the best and most captivating beginnings in existence. Incredible characters, from stubborn Quentin Sykes to the Goon himself to our minor but no less valuable and amusing Fifi. Awful is one of the best children I have ever read (the way she's portrayed, not the way she behaves) and Howard is an incredibly simple, yet complicated character.DIANA WYNNE JONES IS ONE OF THE BEST AUTHORS IN EXISTENCE. READ ALL HER BOOKS--NO FOOLING< NO JOKING< NO LIES--THEN BUY THEM ALL--DITTO.

I'm so shocked it's out of print!

I have recently read Archer's Goon, and it is one of the best books by Diana Wynne Jones you will EVER read! It's sadly out of print, which amazes me because I doubt it ever got the publicity it deserves. It truly is an amazing book, it's lively, readable and unpredictable. I would say it's for readers of 11 and upwards.

What a book should be

I read this book as a kid and I loved it. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood the book became lost and I searched and searched for it. It is one of the greatest young adult books I've ever read and when I reread it I was compleatly enraptured. Not often has a book meant for children been so vivid in it's descriptions and it's settings. The plot has so many twists and turns that I was kept entertained the whole time while reading it. I felt like the Goon was at my kitchen table and he wouldn't leave until I finished the book.