Some books are so good that you want to get lost in them. You want to wander the streets of Revolution's France, smell the salty Sea Wolf's air, and wish upon Pinocchio's stars. What story would you choose to wake up in?
Yeats is a smart kid. He knows that his dad, William, has been depressed for a very long time and that his parents are on the verge of divorce. He also knows that for some reason, this trip to his grandmothers house is a last ditch effort to save his father's sanity and marriage. Gran's house is old and kind of creepy, filled with strange and timeless wonders. Gran has one house guest, Mr. Sutcliff, who is the grandfather of a girl that William knew when he was a kid. As children, Shari and William played together and read through the books in the magical library. When Shari disappeared, William was devastated. He couldn't remember anything about her disappearance, leading him to believe he had gone insane. Shortly after arriving at Gran's house, while the adults talk about magic and history, Yeats wanders into the garden where he finds a bronze pirate bookend. When he replaces the bronze pirate in the library, he unknowingly reunites a pair of magical bookends that make him an offer. The pirates, known as Skin and Bones, have the ability to take Yeats into any story he wants. Having heard that William and Shari once got lost in the story of 1001 Arabian Nights, Yeats decides to go into the story where he believes Shari has been living for the last twenty years. What seems like a simple plan to find Shari and bring her home turns into a wild adventure that threatens to cost Yeats his life.
Yeats is kind of an average kid. There's nothing spectacular about him, which might be his appeal. However, he does seem incredibly courageous, which is kind of a necessary quality for a young hero. I really enjoyed the characters of Skin and Bones but I had a hard time finding the differences between them--I guess pirates are all one and the same. I was okay with that, though, because after all, they're only bookends so they don't have to be multi-dimensional characters. Shari was the weakest character in my opinion. Her transition from the role of Shaharazad back to her Shari self was a little too tidy for me. She strikes me as a somewhat typical ingénue, showing sparks of bravery and gumption, but never really filling out her character. Also, I would have liked to see more of Gran. She seems like a spunky old lady who could have so much more to say. The way the book left off, I can't help but think that there's another one (or two) in the works, so maybe we'll see the characters evolve a bit in the future.
It seems like magic is a common theme in young adult books these days. I suppose that's because magic offers so many limitless possibilities. I admit that I enjoy a good magical story, but I especially love the combination of magic and books. The magic that I see in real life can always be explained in some way, but in a story magic doesn't have to have logic. No science required. David Ward has created a delightfully magical story in which characters boat through the sea of words to get to the living lands of a book, and fight for their life to return to reality.
ARC received courtesy of Abrams Books
Rating: $$
