The first fantasy novel written by J. K. Rowling that is unrelated to the Harry Potter franchise. It was released online in 34 free daily instalments to entertain children during the 2020 Covid lockdown, before being published as a physical book.
Set in the fictional kingdom of Cornucopia and deals with a king trying to capture the titular mythical creature.
This book provides examples of:
- Accidental Murder: Flapoon accidentally fires his blunderbuss when he thinks he hears the Ickabog and hits Major Beamish.
- Aliens Speaking English: The Ickabog knows English even though it has its own language, Ickerish.
- Alliterative Family;
- Any named character from the Beamish, Dovetail or Roach family has an Alliterative Name, also a few minor characters.
- The King called himself The Fearless because it sounded well beside Fred.
- His father was called Richard The Righteous.
- Ambiguously Human: Or humans are Ambiguously Ickabog with the creature claiming that humans are descended from Ickabogs. The Lemony Narrator says at the end that she doesn't know if this is true or not.
- Asteroids Monster: It's rumoured that the Ickabog will split into two Ickabogs when killed.
- The Atoner: King Fred by the end he volunteers to look after the more vicious Ickabog child that won't let anybody near it.
- Babies Ever After: At the end The Ickabog has two babies and Roderick and Martha have five children.
- Brainy Baby: Ickabogs are born knowing how to talk and know anybody their parent knows.
- Child Hater: Spittleworth and Flapoon hate children because they wake them from their afternoon naps.
- Constructed World: It's set in a fictional kingdom called Cornucopia with a few neighbouring kingdoms.
- Death by Childbirth: Ickabogs die when they're "bornding".
- Evil Orphanage Lady: Ma Grunter beats and barely feeds her children, only taking them in to get more money from the government that she can spend on wine.
- Faint in Shock: Mrs. Beamish when she finds out her husband is dead.
- Food Porn: Being written by J. K. Rowling, it's not surprising that we get detailed descriptions of the different foods that Cornucopia's towns produce.
- I Am a Humanitarian: The Ickabog keeps Bert, Daisy, Roderick and Martha to fatten them up before it eats them. It later admits it's never eaten a human before then eventually decides not to kill them, hoping they'll raise its children.
- Identically Named Group: Ma Grunter renames all her orphans to John and Jane.
- Kick the Dog: Spittleworth literally kicks the dog that they thought had been eaten by the Ickabog when he finds it entangled in branches.
- A Kind of One: King Fred is surprised that his soldiers are claiming to kill so many Ickabogs because he thought there was only one.
- Last of Its Kind: The Ickabog is the last one after humans hunted them to near extinction.
- Madness Mantra: Dan just sings the national anthem over and over again after years of working in the dungeon.
- Nose Nuggets: Daisy and Bert laugh at how their teacher picks his nose when he thinks they're not looking.
- One-Gender Race: Ickabogs are implied to be. When asked if it'll be a mother or a father when it has its Ickaboggles, it says it will be an Icker.
- Pocket Protector: When Flapoon shoots Bert, the bullet hits his father's medal that he's wearing under his shirt.
- Polar Opposite Twins: The two baby Ickabogs at the end as they respond to how they're treated as they're born. The first hates humans as they were trying to kill it and its Icker. The second is friendly as things had calmed down when it was born a few minutes later.
- Real After All: It would be a boring book if there was no Ickabog.
- Reformed Bully: Roderick decides to be less of a jerkass after his parents are gone and he needs to survive with the other three.
- Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: When King Fred asks Spittleworth and Flapoon how they can kill the Ickabogs without them multiplying and they bluff that they don't multiply if you hit them on the head first.
- Rhymes on a Dime: The Ickabog's song conveniently rhymes even though it's normally sung in Ickerish and had only just been translated so humans could understand it.
- Stealing the Credit: Fred's main claim to glory is that he once captured and killed a wasp all by himself if you don't count the five footmen and the boot boy.
- Truly Single Parent: Implied with the Ickabog as there's no mention of who got it pregnant and the rest of them died out years ago.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: Eslanda's maid Hetty had a boy and a girl shortly after getting married.
- Uptown Girl: Captain Goodfellow is secretly in love with Lady Eslanda and has no idea that she loves him back
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Private Prodd can't bring himself to kill Daisy because she reminds him of his niece so he dumps her at Ma Grunter's orphanage instead.
