History Literature / Kadingir

* AnythingThatMoves: Vizvi instantly hits on any character he meets, no matter the race, gender or seniority.

* NoPronunciationGuide: Kadingir is a Catalan series based on Sumerian lore and with a major Spanish fanbase, which makes it extremely prone to mispronunciations (although usually the main issues comes from not knowing how to stress words). Some particularly egregious examples are:
** Ishtar, which ought to be pronounced ish-TAR.
** Iduh, which sounds like i-DU.
** Kadingir, as in KA-din-jir.
** Mulursanya rhymes with lasagne. No, really.
** Ereshkigal is a compound word and lacks the accent mark, but it is pronounced e-RESH-ki-gal.
** Ullah is particularly tricky because of the ll and final h, which confuses a lot of people. It's pronounced u-YA.

* ScrewLearningIHavePhlebotinum!: Part of Ishtar's newfound abilities are "knowing what the planet knows", which means that she can learn the names of plants, places and people just by concentrating a little bit. She describes it as having [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} TheOtherWiki]] inside her brain.

* ThereWasADoor: Uttered word for word by Ishtar when Sura's [[PsiBlast blast-induced]] [[ShellShockedVeteran crazed state of mind]] leads him to believe that [[YouCanPanicNow they about to be sacrificed]] by a horde of [[CapturedByCannibals savage canibal scientists]], and immediately busts through a wall of the hut they were "trapped in". Ishtar even mentions that the door wasn't even locked.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: ''The Shapla Case'' is the novel [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters with the largest cast]], and almost all of them are suspects to the death of King Kuzu: [[BlackWidow the Queen]], [[SelfMadeOrphan his many children]], [[KlingonPromotion the members of the State Council]], [[{{Pirate}} the pirates]], TheMafia, [[TheKingslayer the anti-royalists]], TheMole... the list goes on.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: The series features several side-plots with a varying degree of incidence on the main storyline, which add a great deal of characters and worldbuilding.
** ''The Shapla Case'' is the worst offender to date, with nearly a hundred named characters listed (both main, side or just referenced). It makes sense considering it's a murder mystery, and most of the newly-introduced characters are the suspects.

* PowerNullifier: Saggin uses abzuza cuffs to prevent Nakki from escape using his powers.

* ParentalObliviousness: Ishtar's parents are a pair of bohemian artists who live and breath their craft, and fail to notice their daughter being spirited away into another dimension, their son fighting against and later making friends with an eight-inch tiger-man, a huge laboratory in their basement, one of their guests being a giant chicken, ''two different'' demonic teddy bears roaming the corridors, a squadron of TheMenInBlack invading the house and an increasing number of packages that may very well come from a different planet.

* TreasureMap: Nuzua is an [[TheAmazon unexplored giant foggy monster-ridden jungle]] where people lose their memory and eventually their mind. Therefore, a map of the place is rare beyond belief and utterly priceless... even if it's [[spoiler: just a few scribbles on a post-it]].

* EccentricArtist: Ishtar's parents, Anna and Jacques.

* GoodParents: Anna and Jacques, even if they are a bit oblivious.

* TheAmazon: Nuzua is the biggest jungle in Ki, and one of the most dangerous places in the planet: [[EverythingTryingToKillYou it's full to the brim with monsters]], the powers you rely on [[DePower don't work anymore]] and you're slowly forgetting what it was you were doing here...
* TheButlerDidIt: The [[CluelessDetective Nuzu brothers]] arrest the royal butler the ''second'' they start investigating on [[spoiler: king Kuzu's murder.]]
* TheComicallySerious: Nakki never looses his cool, serious, hyper-efficient demeanour, no matter how surreal the scenes unfolding around him get.
* TheEmpath: Part of the special abilities the inhabitants from Ki possess is an affinity with other's emotions, particularly if they are strong or shared by a group of people. With enough training, this ability can be used to feel hostile presences, effectively turning it into an EnemyDetectingRadar.
* TheGoodChancellor: Nakki, the [[TheStrategist hyper-competent]] [[NoSenseOfHumor super-serious]] [[MentorArchetype mentor]] Ishtar loves to tease.
* TheMenInBlack: The Kadingir Corporation operatives. Whenever there's a dimensional-related incident on Earth, they follow along to cover it up and keep the humans from uncovering the {{Masquerade}}.
* TheMole: There is a traitor amongst the Zitis, who has been supplying Usúmgal with stolen dimension alterers.
* TheNicknamer: Ishtar frequently uses similar sounding names for people she just met, or straight-up makes them up for strangers.
--->"What's up, Mr. Sushi?"
--->-- '''Ishtar''', to a [[FishPeople Kuzubi]] pirate who's trying to kill her.
* ThePlague: Centuries before the current story, the Kuzubis almost went extinct when the planet passed through a [[SpaceClouds space cloud]] containing a microbe that attacked only their race. The ensuing plague was named Signishra, "the silent death".
* ThePlan: Nakki's speciality.

The series is still ongoing, and currently consists of four books (''El Cetro de Zink'', ''El Señor de Zapp'', ''El Caso Shapla'' and ''El Cuarto Poder''[[labelnote:English]]''The Scepter of Zink'', ''The Lord of Zapp'', ''The Shapla Case'' and ''The Fourth Power''[[/labelnote]]), which follow Ishtar's multiple adventures in Ki. Additionally, in 2017 a precuel was published, ''La Reina de Kígal''[[labelnote:English]]''The Queen of Kígal''[[/labelnote]], which was centered on Ishtar's grandmother Nírgal and some other characters in their youth.

* BoltOfDivineRetribution: [[TheCaligula Mad King Kanota]]'s ultimate fate, after he blew up his own castle while proclaiming that [[TalkativeLoon no penguin]] [[LaughingMad would sit on the throne]]. His reign is widely regarded as an embarrassment to the Zitis, who would happily forget about his whole existance.

* NotTheFallThatKillsYou: Ullah deals with an enemy this way: diving down from the sky, grabbing him and flying back up, only to let him fall to his death.
-->'''Urgug''': LET ME GO! LET ME GO, YOU STUPID BIRD!!
-->'''Ullah''': Suit yourself.

* AirVentPassageway: Used by Gòlik to infiltrate in Zapp Castle and later to spy on the [[LaResistance Musdagur Resistance]]. He even mentions they are so convenient that he'd better remove the air ducts from his own club, lest someone tries spying him.

* AirVentPassageway: Used by Golik to infiltrate in Zapp Castle and later to spy on the [[LaResistance Musdagur Resistance]]. He even mentions they are so convenient that he'd better remove the air ducts from his own club, lest someone tries spying him.

** As expected from a juvenile book series, the characters who occasionally swear (Ishtar, Golik, the pirates) all use very colourful but ultimately mild language.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Golik. When Ishtar and Nakki ask him for help in finding Nírgal he mocks them before throwing them out of his club. Ishtar is dismayed, but Nakki points out how cooperative he was, and [[spoiler: indeed he ends up helping out the heroes]].

* MysteriousStranger: The hooded figure who clues Golik in about the location of the Sceptre of Zink, which vexes him immensely since they manage to hide their identity to him, despite his proficient mental skills and the nagging feeling familiarity about them...

* StolenMacGuffinReveal: After everyone has been looking for it desperately throughout the book, [[spoiler: Golik]] saves the day at the last minute by [[spoiler: giving Ishtar the Scepter of Zink.]]

The story follows the adventures of Ishtar, a [[GenkiGirl spunky]] and [[CheerfulChild upbeat]] girl with [[LittleMissSnarker a sharp tongue]], after she accidentally travels to Ki, a chestnut-shaped world in a parallel dimension full of FantasticSapientSpecies with [[PsychicPowers special abilities]]. She quickly recovers from the initial shock when she learns that her mysterious grandmother, an AdventurerArchaeologist who she has been penpals with for years but has never actually met, actually comes from this world... And has just been kidnapped! Ishtar's main goal will be finding her, as well as mastering her new-found powers with the help of her {{Mentor}} Nakki. That is, if the [[BigBad lizard-king Usumgal]] doesn't kill her first.

The series is still ongoing, and currently consists of four books (''El Cetro de Zink'', ''El Señor de Zapp'', ''El Caso Shapla'' and ''El Cuarto Poder''[[labelnote:English]]''The Scepter of Zink'', ''The Lord of Zapp'', ''The Shapla Case'' and ''The Fourth Power''[[/labelnote]]), which follow Ishtar's multiple adventures in Ki. Additionally, in 2017 a precuel was published, ''La Reina de Kigal''[[labelnote:English]]''The Queen of Kigal''[[/labelnote]], which was centered on Ishtar's grandmother Nirgal and some other characters in their youth.

* AbdicateTheThrone: ''The Queen Of Kigal'' plot kicks off when King Lugal decides he wants to retire and go on vacation to Earth, catapulting his nine-year-old daughter out of her leisurely life into a TrainingFromHell so she has a chance to pass the Oracle's Trial.
* AbsentMindedProfessor: Galam, to a T. He's a genius scientist with EinsteinHair and a tendency to suddenly start scribbling his brilliant ideas [[CouldntFindAPen on any]] [[RoomFullOfCrazy available surface]], whichever the situation and the number of enemies currently trying to kill him. He even fills the "professor" gap, since he tutored Ishtar and Malag.

* BalconySpeech: Usumgal gives one to his water-deprived people, accusing the Sutums of drying the rivers and wells. Most of his audience knows it's just [[PretextForWar a ruse aimed at a scapegoat]], but they are desperate enough to go along with it anyways.

* BarFullOfAliens: Galam brings Ishtar to one of these after she accidentally falls into a portal and gets lost in Zink, so that they can have a quiet chat about parallel dimensions over a cup of hot chocolate.

** In ''The Queen of Kigal'' we learn that Elvis also came from Ki. However, that does not imply that ElvisLives since that book is set in the late fifties.

* BigBad: Usumgal, the lord of the [[LizardFolk Musdagurs]], is the main antagonist throughout the series.

* CatFolk: The Tidnums, one of the six races found in Ki. They are eight-foot anthropomorphic felines with a simple mindset: according to Nimur, their king, they are always either very happy of very angry.

* CoolOldLady: Nirgal, Ishtar's grandmother, who's a worldwide famous AdventurerArchaeologist extraordinaire.

* EvilOverlord: Usumgal, the BigBad of the series. His father Kanasul was even worse.

* FlashbackWithinAFlashback: ''The Queen of Kigal'' is a precuel set about 50 years before the events on the main storyline, and it retells Nirgal's youth alongside many of the older characters in the series. However, part of the plot revolves around the return of a dreaded plague from 25 years prior, and two chapters are used to describe the events leading to it, stepping further back in time. The narrative brings this point home with the use of verb tense: while all the books are always written in the present tense, this specific flashback is entirely in the past, giving it a distinct feel from the rest of the story.
* FlashedBadgeHijack: While lost on Earth, stranded in the middle of nowhere and in need of transportation, Nakki and Galam stop the first vehicle they come across and order it to alter course to fit their needs. Said vehicle is a huge schoolbus filled to the brim with widows of war on their way to a barbecue, who become very hostile to the idea of having their field day thusly ruined. Doubles as BavarianFireDrill since Nakki isn't technically in the right dimension nor has the authority to pull this off, although he was truthful when claiming the bus in the name of the Government... He just didn't specify which Government that was.
* FunPersonified: Nimur, the giant [[CatFolk tiger king]] who always keeps a positive attitude and loves to goof around. Ishtar is immensely happy when he joins TheTeam after having spent weeks training with [[SternTeacher Nakki]] and [[TheStoic Zuk]].

* IdenticalGrandson: Everyone Ishtar meets in Ki remarks how similar she looks to her grandmother Nirgal, to the point that it becomes a running gag.

* KillerTeddyBear: Averted with [[spoiler: Usumgal]]; he is indeed [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear a teddy bear]] and a genocide, but he is too scared when in this vulnerable state to think about anything but escaping.
* LaResistance: A group of Musdagurs that meet in secret to conspire against the dictator Usumgal.

** Mulursanya rhymes with lasagne.

* PowerIncontinence: Ishtar's first arrival in Ki kicks off her [[PsychicPowers latent abilities]] and she starts hearing the thoughts of all the people she comes across in a market, banging in her head in a language she can't even understand. Thankfully, Galam [[PsychicBlockDefense saves her]] before she goes insane.

* RetiredBadass: Lugal, Nirgal's dad and Ishtar's great-grandfather, is called out of retirement to stop a coup and kick some traitor's butt in ''The Shapla Case''.

** In ''The Scepter of Zink'', Galam tries (and fails) to have a nice, warm cup of chocolate throughout the whole book, and only gets his just deserts right in the end.

** Played straight with [[spoiler: Usumgal]], who is also transformed into a pink, tutu-wearing teddy bear and sealed away behind a glass container for good measure.

* ShootTheMessenger: [[EvilOverlord Usumgal's]] standard reaction to bad news.

** Nimur didn't think his ancestor's staff was very useful in a fight, so he made some adjustments and transformed it into a battle axe.

* TeleportationRescue: Lugal used a hand-held dimension alterer to rescue Nirgal and Nakki from a [[TrappedBehindEnemyLines hopeless situation]], opening a portal and effectively making them disappear into thin air in their enemy's eyes.

* TheMole: There is a traitor amongst the Zitis, who has been supplying Usumgal with stolen dimension alterers.

* TheXOfY: Most of the books follow this title pattern: The Scepter of Zink, The Lord of Zapp, The Queen of Kigal...

* ValuesDissonance: In-universe example, to the point that a whole chapter is named as such. Ishtar and the rest of the Zitis are quite shaken by the way Musua dealt with [[spoiler: Kisib]] [[OffWithHisHead in self-defence]], as well as the enthusiasm her fellow Tidnums and particularly Nimur show in response.

* WallAroundTheWorld: There is a giant artificial dome around Ki, which protects the planet from the strain of orbiting around two suns. Despite being vital for their survival, it has a crucial flaw: the Risk's volcanic smog and detritus keeps pilling up beneath it, slowly leaving the whole lower hemisphere covered in darkness. Also, Lugal laments they can't have satellite TV because of it.
* WeHaveReserves: Usumgal is perfectly happy to bomb an entire battlefield, killing his own soldiers, so long the enemy is also slaughtered in the process.

* XanatosSpeedChess: Kanasul proves to be a ruthless and adaptable strategist in ''The Queen of Kigal'', where [[SpannerInTheWorks Lugal's self-appointed heroic rescue of the Zukum's refugees]] forces him to readjust his plan, and he ends up using his enemy's interference to his advantage: slaughtering his malcontent subjects, blaming it on Lugal and using ''that'' as an excuse to capture and burn at the stake the leader of the Ziti.

* AdultsAreUseless: 6-year-old Gerard is rightfully terrified when he sees a walking, screeching teddy bear climbing up the stairs and promptly runs to his mother... who doesn't believe a word he says and tells him to stop daydreaming.

* AmnesiaDanger: One of the [[BigCreepyCrawlies many,]] [[PowerNullifier many,]] ''[[EverythingTryingToKillYou many]]'' reasons why Nuzua is considered the most deadly place on Ki.