Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Ronan aims to clear his parents of a crime in wacky romp.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
The quest that takes RONAN BOYLE INTO THE STRANGEPLACE picks up in the wake of Book 2, which leaves 15-year-old hero with a lot of unfinished business. Specifically, clearing his formerly imprisoned, naive, academic parents of stealing the head of an Irish god from a museum, a crime actually the work of the villain who's framing them. The process of clearing them is made far more difficult by the fact that his parents have escaped prison and disappeared. Then there's poor pathetic Pierre the far darrig (a type of magical being), left in a sad state in Book 2. Ronan's promised to rescue him, but has no idea how. But meanwhile, his superiors in the Gardai need him -- accompanied by Lily the Wolfhound, his idolized Captain de Valera, and others who prove helpful -- to deliver some leprechaun criminals back to Tir Na Nog to face justice from their own king. After which he'll be free to deliver the undead god's head (last seen in Book 2) back to the museum where it belongs and prove his parents' innocence once and for all. Sadly, none of this is going to be easy, what with the villain, a grotesquely over-the-top Irish (by way of Indiana) dancer, and two rival fairy kingdoms determined to damage each other as much as possible.
Is It Any Good?
Thomas Lennon's geeky, confused, but dauntless teen hero faces further difficulties amid magical villains, ill-behaved fairy folk, and a whole lot of booze and bodily fluids in this wild quest. As his latest set of orders from the Gardai send Ronan Boyle Into the Strangeplace as part of a delegation to the fairy world of Tir Na Nog, there's no telling what will happen, except that it probably won't be what you expect, starting about from the point where our heroes get from Point A to Point B by being eaten by a whale and ejected through her blowhole. Before Ronan gets to the next way station on his multi-book quest, many things even stranger than this will occur, as the reader will soon discover.
"Above my head, a flock of flying musical notes was zooming around: quarter notes, whole notes, treble clefs, and the like. They were attacking each other like pterodactyls, and their screeches seemed to be reflected in the length of their shape (the screeches from the whole notes were the longest).
"Nearby was something I had never wanted to see -- a group of purple cacti doing a staged reading of a conversation I had with Captain Fearnley back in Galway one year ago.
"'Idris Elba, Idris Elba,' said a tree that was well cast as my mentor to a narrow tree with glasses that was obviously supposed to be me."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Irish mythology in Ronan Boyle Into the Strangeplace. Do you like author Thomas Lennon's wacky take on the traditional tales in the Ronan Boyle series? Or do you prefer a more serious, respectful treatment?
Have you ever seen a performance of Irish dancing? How did you like it? Do you think it's something you might want to try?
Had you ever heard of The Monkees before Ronan brought them up? Do you want to watch the TV series now to see what he was talking about?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : John Hendrix
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Adventures , Friendship
- Book type : Non-Fiction
- Publisher : Harry N. Abrams
- Publication date : November 23, 2021
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 336
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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