Xanthan Gumm [Paperback]

Robin Reed creates an enjoyable blend of humor, satire, and more than a little irony in Xanthan Gumm. This is a touching story of Xanthan's accidental adventures in Chicago with his unlikely partner Al, a homeless man who befriends the ambitious and naive alien in his quest to become famous. A little bit Princess Bride, Galaxy Quest and social satire wrapped up in a thoroughly enjoyable tale. I hope enough people read Xanthan Gumm to encourage Ms. Reed to write the promised second book, X.G., Working Class Clown.

Robin Reed has taken the classic fish out of water tale and spun it with wit and charm in her book 'Xanthan Gumm'. The novel follows the adventures of hayseed alien Xanth as he attempts to find his version of the Holy Land--Hollywood! Xanth desperately wants to be In The Movies, movies like the ones he's grown up with back home on Galactic Central. He's come to Earth to be a Star, oh, and to meet The King of Earth, of course, Mr. Steven Spielberg.

With the help of a homeless guy named Al, as unlikely a Gandalf/Obi-Wan/put the name of your favorite Wise Teacher from any fantasy or sci-fi epic here, Xanth's mishaps and ill-fated encounters are consistently hillarious, poignant, and instructive. The secondary plot, starring a wickedly funny send-up of the stock, granite-jawed military officer archetype, General Les.S. Moore( and no, Miss Reed did not know me when she invented this clown!)is a blistering critique of the absurdities of the Military-Industrial Complex. I laughed so hard, I knocked my reading glasses off my face!

Technically, the book could use a thorough professional edit in order to clean up problems with things like overuse of passive voice, some awkward phrasing, and repetitiveness. These problems, however, did not detract in any way from my overall enjoyment of the book, and I'd give it an extra half-star if I could, but the system won't allow it. I hope there will be more adventures of Xanthan Gumm on Earth forthcoming.

Storyline:
Ms. Robin Reed takes our normal and almost boring planet, Earth, and makes it extremely interesting and exciting.
Xanthan Gumm is a sweet little guy that's not from Earth, but has been a fan of our movies for an extremely long time. Xanth (as he likes to be called) flies to Earth to star in the Movies that he and all of the other creatures in Galactic Central have been watching and studying for quite some time.

Only upon his crash landing and subsequent trials, tribulations and troubles does he realize that it's going to take a lot more than he originally thought to be the next big Movie Star. Instead of instant fame, it might even take as long as week!

Grammar/Spelling:
I noticed some minor grammatical (incorrect pronoun or character's name, capitalization and punctuation) issues throughout the story, with an increase in formatting problems (spacing, paragraph indentation, random characters) towards the end of the book. These are easily corrected by another read-through by a beta reader.

Character Development:
The main character, Xanth, is adorable in his naive and innocent outlook on humans and their way of life. Xanth isn't dumb, he's just very literal. Apparently, things are more straight-forward in Galactic Central than they are on Earth. He is very easy to love and you only want him for him to be in the Movies. Xanthan almost makes the reader wish that life were as exciting as the Movies.

General Les S. Moore is likeable even in his misguided and misdirected patriotism. He is driven by his desire to protect Earth from the enemy, be it the "Commies" or otherwise. Apparently, Xanth falls into the "otherwise" category. With his overbearing mother helping to push him towards his ambition along with his over-the-top chin, General Moore will stop at nothing to achieve that goal.

Writing Style:
Ms. Reed's use of an "intergalactic" vocabulary is completely made up, yet very believable and just absolutely adorable. Her use of pop culture references is refreshing and helps move the story along quite well.

Continuity:
No issues with continuity noted. The red cars remained red.

Overall Rating: 4

This story, with some minor editing for content, could easily translate into a Pixar or animated Disney film. I can almost hear Tim Allen's deep voice as General Les S. Moore and Ewan McGregor's soft voice full of awe as he tells everyone of his plans to be in the Movies.

Ms. Reed gave me a series case of the giggles in several points throughout the story. Xanthan Gumm is a great lighthearted and sweet story about a little guy who just wants to make it big - something that even we, as somewhat oblivious humans, can relate to. I recommend this book to just about anyone with a great sense of humor and a true appreciation for the Movies and achieving the American Dream. Or at least trying to achieve it.