星のカービィ スターアライズ フレンズ大冒険!編

A very stong entry into the Kirby novels that plays with some of the common tropes a bit. This is the first of the novels to really dig into the cosmic horror streak that infamously rears its head at various points of the games. Purple heart shards start raining down over Dreamland turning the common folk into evil versions of themselves (which for DeDeDe apparently just means becoming The Hulk and eating lots of rotten food), but Kirby finds a pink heart that can counteract the effects and turn enemies into friends. While Kirby and crew do find bad guys to beat up on and save the day, we never really find out why any of this happened or for what purpose and there's this lingering sense that something else is going on which isn't fully resolved, and indeed there's a little cliffhanger at the end which is a first for the series, but I liked that uneasy lack of full resolution.

There is some continuity going on here, Dedede still has his cadre of Waddledee clones and the Waddledee still has his bandana (I found it very cute that Dedede even gives him his support to go on the adventure with Kirby). There are a couple points where they play with the usual catchphrase of saying how ridiculously peaceful Dreamland is (despite the number of crazy adventures piling up making that claim a bit doubtful by this point). Where most of the books have a memorable scene or two to let the common Dreamlanders do something memorable, this does something fun by letting Chilly and Poppy Bros Jr. tag along for a decent chunk of the adventure which is very fun and Kirby has more than a few entertaining allies along the way. I like the running gag where every time Kirby uses the pink heart on someone, they get a little too friendly toward him and only a few of the other characters seem to notice how bizarre that is. It's good stuff and a fun adventure, definitely a top 5 book from this series for sure.