Dr. Fixit's Malicious Machine The Legend of Guts and Glory Freedom Fighters of Nil by Jessica Crichton; Crichton’s Science Fiction Children’s Book Has Plenty of Guts and Glory
By Julie Sara Porter
Bookworm Reviews
Spoilers: One of the things that I love about working on this blog is becoming acquainted with new, to me anyway, authors by reading multiple books written by them. It is a great journey to discover their entire body of work to see their imaginative literary worlds, to recognize tropes and themes that carry over from book to book, and associate them with a specific genre or style. My latest literary acquaintance is Children’s and YA author, Jessica Crichton.
Crichton’s book, Dr. Fixit’s Malicious Machine: The Legend of Guts and Glory Freedom Fighters of Nil is a brilliant Dystopian/Parallel Universe Science Fiction which gives Readers a fantastic setting, interesting characters that inhabit it, and some very powerful themes about family and what it actually means to grow up.
Twins, Trevor and Tabitha Tate AKA Guts and Glory respectively find their scientist mother’s lab ransacked and learn that she has been abducted by a weird tentacled creature. They are invited by a mysterious person, Dr. Fixit, who says that their mother is in his world of Nil and they have to be put through a series of tests to find her and prove themselves worthy. The twins and their older sister, Emily, follow a portal to Nil which is revealed to be a dismal place overrun by giant bugs and juvenile gangs. Emily is kidnapped by the Teens, one of the gangs, and is held captive in their fortress Igh Schoo. The twins are found by a local kid named Books who takes the duo straight to the DarkCrows, a gang of kids under 12 who are sworn enemies of the Teens. The Crows think that Trevor and Tabitha resemble Guts and Glory, two legendary figures who have sworn to return to help their people. The Tate Twins find themselves in the middle of a gang war and a world where things aren’t always what they seem.
Crichton excels at subverting expectations and creating a Children’s Novel that isn’t afraid to get dark when it needs to. Many Children’s books series don’t start out completely dark. They introduce Readers to the new world by making it a fun place rich with details that makes one want to visit, saving the major conflicts for subsequent books. Crichton’’s book is different. It starts dark and looks to stay that way.
For example Nil is a world with few adults, but it is not exactly Peter Pan’s NeverLand. It’s more like a nation wide version of Lord of the Flies. What we see of Nil is a dismal place with destroyed buildings, rampant lawlessness, complete chaos and destruction, and young people running around with no structure or understanding.
With no rules, no structures, gangs of children and teenagers are free to do whatever they want including hurting, abusing, or killing. After all, empathy and understanding are traits that are often taught by example and learning. Without those traits trained into them during their toddler years, they resort to selfish basest instincts. This is what is on display.
These are children and teenagers who only live for themselves and have only the faintest idea of what deeper emotions like love really are. Family still exists because there are siblings but once a sibling becomes a Teen, that link is destroyed. Friendships are earned and just as easily broken within the gangs. The stress of this world even temporarily breaks Tabitha and Trevor apart. Nil is a nightmare world that many Readers probably would not want to visit unless they were really brave or really foolhardy.
Crichton also has fun playing with various tropes that are common in Children’s Literature by giving us reasons why they exist. As previously mentioned, there is a prophecy regarding Guts and Glory but we learn that the prophecy was made in a surprisingly mundane way. It is not an ancient myth passed down from a loving deity so much as a record accidentally left behind when the writer had to leave in a big hurry. The implication seems to be that these kids were so desperate for a hero or something beyond themselves that they latched onto anything that they could find that encouraged them to look forward to a better day.
There are some fun and interesting bits that add to Crichton’s excellent writing style. Names are particularly fun. Of course there are Tabitha and Trevor, the aforementioned Guts and Glory. There are also characters that are rich with names like Fist, Shark, Books, Roach, Turtle, and Gadget. These names give you some idea of the characters’ personalities and interests. Of course that the names are chosen not by parents but by other kids adds to the effect. Like in another life, these names could have been used as insults or means of bullying but now they are the only ways that they can identify themselves.
Some names are a bit on the nose. Nil means nothing and that gives some idea of what this world is really like. The biggest laugh is the Teen’s hideout, Igh Schoo and how long it takes Trevor to figure out what it means. It’s obvious and clever in its own way.
Above all this is a strong book about love and loyalty. The gang members feign loyalty but are willing to turn on each other at a moment’s notice. Some characters trust others too readily only to find betrayal. In one heartbreaking moment, the Tate Siblings’ bond with other family members are called into question, creating hurt, pain, and ties that may end up being forever broken. However, Tabitha and Trevor’s familial bond is strengthened by this adventure showing that they do have the courage, love, leadership, and perseverance to become the Guts and Glory of legends.
It takes a lot of Guts to write a book with familiar tropes and do something unique with them. Crichton has them and the results are very Glorious.
