The Ickabog: A Disappointment After Harry Potter

In elementary school I was an avid Harry Potter reader, and since then I have reread the books multiple times. The series has never lost its charm. Recently, I have wondered what other books J. K. Rowling has written, and thereby discovered The Ickabog. I was especially interested in this book because of the story behind it. Rowling started writing this book in early 2020, her first children’s fiction novel  since the Harry Potter series, when Covid hit. She first published the book in installments, releasing a chapter each week online. The Ickabog received much attention on social media, especially when Rowling held an illustration contest for children to submit drawings to be published in the physical copy of the book. 

(Minor spoilers ahead)

After learning of the history of the book I was very excited to read it. However, I soon realized the book did not live up to my expectations. First, it annoyed me how grim and depressing The Ickabog began, especially for a book that is meant for 7-11 year olds (according to Goodreads). The Ickabog starts off with a description of the good tempered but rather ignorant King Fred the Fearless, who had recently been crowned king of Cornucopia. 

“He’d announced the “Fearless” bit himself, on the morning of his coronation, partly because it sounded nice with “Fred,” but also because he’d once managed to to catch and kill a wap all by himself, if you didn’t count the five footmen and the boot boy.”

Because Fred is not very strongminded, he is badly influenced by his two best friends, Spittleworth and Flapoon, which as the book goes on proves to be dire for the welfare of Cornucopia. 

 King Fred’s worst fault is his selfishness, which causes him to overwork Daisy’s mother Mrs. Dovetail, the head seamstress, to the point of death to sew him a new suit in time for his coronation. This dreadful act causes long time best friends Daisy and Bert, the main characters of the book, to fight in the King’s courtyard. All of the children in the courtyard are there because one of both of their parents works for the King. Bert and the other children wish that the King will wave to them, while Daisy doesn’t because of her mother passing due to the King’s vanity.

“He’s the best king of Cornucopia we’ve ever had,” said Bert, who’d heard his mother say so many times. 

“No, he isn't," Daisy said loudly. “He’s selfish, vain, and cruel!”

“Daisy!” whispered Bert, horrified. “Don’t be — don’t be silly!”

It was the word “silly” that did it. “Silly,” when the new Head Seamstress’s daughter smirked and whispered behind her hand to her friends, while pointing at Daisy’s coveralls? “Silly,” when her father wiped away his tears in the evenings, thinking Daisy wasn’t looking? “Silly,” when to talk to her mother she had to visit a cold white headstone?

This part of the book and pretty much all of The Ickabog until the very end was bleak, which did not make it an enjoyable read. Daisy's life went downhill. Her mother dies, she and her father are forced out of their home, and then to top it all off her father is sent to jail wrongfully and she is put in an awful orphanage. 

Another aspect of the book I disliked was the supposed “Myth of the Ickabog” because it had some holes in the story. 

“As tall as two horses. Eyes like glowing balls of fire. Long, razor-sharp claws. The Ickabog is coming…”

First of all, the people of Cornucopia didn’t believe in the Ickabog and just told their kids about the Ickabog to scare them, while their neighbors the Marshlanders fully believed in the monster. It seems weird to me that even though these people lived very close together they would think of the Ickabog totally differently. Also, The Marshlanders claimed to have seen the Ickabog, while no Cornucopian was ever hard of seeing the monster until certain events took place. Finally, the Marshlanders claim that the Ickabog have stolen sheep from them, but nothing is ever reported of being stolen by the Ickabog in the much richer lands of Cornucopia.

Thanks for reading!

Clara