Leo the Elf Saves Christmas (Doxon)

Leo the Elf Saves Christmas
Bradley Doxon (2023)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was an online freebie, one of those books that was meant to put me in the mood for Christmas. Unfortunately, my Book Club meeting was arriving and I needed to read that book first. And then I really didn't want "Leo the Elf" to be the first book I read in the new year, so I put it aside half-read.

But I came back, so there's the story!

Leo is Santa's guardian, his top elf and defender of all things Christmas. He has a sword and a scepter that he usus to protect the realm, and it's a good thing that he does, too.

Leo is sent on a mission by Santa to increase Christmas spirit which seems to be lacking in recent years. While he's away, the lack of Christmas spirit is enough for the Sorrow King, long ago imprisoned in another dimension by Santa and the forest Elves (not the toy-making elves like Leo), manages to break from of his prison in his dark dimension. He then banishes Santa and his reindeer to that dimension while impersonating Santa himself. His Despair Minions take the place of the reindeer. He then has the elves work on a device that will suck up all the Christmas Spirit in the world so that, the fake Santa tells them, he can distribute it to the world.

Leo returns to the North Pole with a young human girl, Ava, who is filled with Christmas Spirit and who has the ability to wield Leo's scepter, making it shine bright. The two travel, with the help of the forest Elves, to the Realm of Darkness to rescue Santa. Then they must defeat the Sorrow Kind, destroy his machine, and return Christmas Spirit to the children of the world (which doesn't really happen).

My two problems with the narrative are that the Sorrow King succeeds early on, so his able to deliver garbage to the kids of the world and suck up their Christmas spirit. Kids will awaken on Christmas morning to the terrible presents that fake Santa left. This cannot be undone and yet it isn't explained to the children of the world what happened.

Second is the prologue. I'm not anti-prologue by any stretch of the imagination but this one seems added on to explain who the Sorrow King is and how he was banished hundreds of years ago.

The book is YA, so I don't question it much. Like with "The Year Without a Santa Claus", the elf goes into the world and visits a single town to check on Christmas spirit, but i guess that's enough to do reconnaissance.

Despite this, it was enjoyable. It was as goofy as I might've expected but not in a bad way. That said, I don't see myself reading the next book, except for my goal of reading more "second books" this year.




If you stumbled across my page via the Internet, please check out my short book series, Burke Lore Briefs.

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