Office Pool is a coming of age story of an underachieving ink pen named Arthur “Arty” Bickerson.

Arty’s unique journey is chronicled as he must quickly navigate the vast differences between the complexities of his new life and responsibilities in “The Office” and life on the home desktop. More than just a pen, Arty is mentored along the way by his childhood guardian and coworker Stan Sharply.

As Arty gets orientated to his new role, he experiences so many highs and lows, with Stan there to help Arty navigate it all.

With humans set as the backdrop, these common everyday writing utensils each with unique personalities deal with family, friendship, success, love, peer jealousy, classism, along with high expectations, greed, and self doubt. Office Pool is a family friendly witty tale, set in a small fictional world of adventure.

Title: Extraction (Office Pool #2)

Author: D.L. Blackburne

Pages: 68

My review

This is the second installment of the Office Pool series, which picks up the story from where it ended in the previous book. Arty Bickerson, who finds himself in the position of a leader of a small group of pens. He set out a journey to rescue Stanley, his mentor, and father-figure with this group. On the other hand, Stanley is deep down in the inner sanctum facing the most feared arch-villain, King Glitter Smear in an attempt to set free many of his friends and family members who were taken as captive earlier. But in this process, Arty and Stanley along with others came to know about the truth that they are now edging towards the great final battle. Who will survive and who will perish?

After reading the first book, Orientation, I was greatly impressed by the author’s creativity to frame a story like this. A story in the world of utensils and stationery items where humans are pushed into the background. In the first installment, the author concentrated on building a unique plot with strong characters. It was detailed about the past and emotions of the protagonists. In this book, the story-line is more inching towards a great battle. Hence this is a fast-paced one. The story is now shifted like a mystery thriller. Throwing suspicions on various characters, the author has framed a good thriller among the world of pens.