Django Wexler

Its fair to say that I went into this book with higher than normal expectations. I really enjoyed Wexler's fantasy [b:The Thousand Names|15810910|The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1)|Django Wexler|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg|21536059] and when I heard about this--Readers are Magic!--how could I say no? This is everything I ever wanted as a child to happen to me (well except the deceased parents part). I've been saying for years that reading is magical and this book pretty much just validated every single one of those statements.

That its a middle grade didn't register with me. As I was reading I didn't think of this as a middle grade, I didn't think of Alice's age at all really unless someone made comment about it. Since this is set almost a century ago its very easy to overlook a lot of the liberties and restrictions Alice has as being part of that time.

Admittedly this was a bit more by the numbers then THE THOUSAND NAMES was. There isn't a whole lot of deeper motivation then what is shown. Alice is very upfront about her priorities, Geryon is likewise upfront about his main priorities (whether or not some of his other interests are as important are up for interpretation), Ashes doesn't really mince words (he's half-cat after all) and Issac is just kind of like 'gah! whatever!' as things get tossed at him. So you wind up with a book that follows faithfully from Point A to B to C, that as an adult I can see how one leads into the other. If I was reading at the intended age level? I believe it would be more mysterious to me and thus more engrossing.

As it stood what kept me reading was how Wexler uses the Reader magic. Lovers of [b:The Neverending Story|27712|The Neverending Story|Michael Ende|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327871159s/27712.jpg|1122661] or [b:Inkheart|28194|Inkheart (Inkworld, #1)|Cornelia Funke|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1370972877s/28194.jpg|2628323] will certainly feel this is familiar. As a "Reader" Alice (and Geryon and Issac) are able to make what they read reality. Sometimes this means entering a book. Sometimes this means trapping awful creepies in books. And sometimes it means speaking it into existence. To leave a book the "Reader" has to basically become the hero (or heroine) of the novel or if they're lucky another Reader can read them out. Guess which happens more often?

Since I read an uncorrected proof edition many of the illustrations that are in the final copy were missing from mine, but those that were in the book served to really help give imagination to the book. Such as the image of the fairy which begins Alice's journey into the magical. Wexler's description is rather creepy sounding...and the image is just downright cringe inducing. Definitely not what a fairy looks like from what I read as a child.

The good news is I think this will appeal to both girls and boys. There's something for both in here, as well as a whole lot of snarky good humor (I admit Ashes may have been my favorite character). Entertaining and magical, yep that pretty much sums this book up!… (mais)