Leven Thumps and the
Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye
Premise: Fourteen-year-old Leven Thumps lives a wretched
life in Burnt Culvert, Oklahoma. But his life is about to change and his
destiny be fulfilled as he learns about a secret gateway that bridges two
worlds -- the real world and Foo, a place created at the beginning of time in
the folds of the mind that makes it possible for mankind to dream and hope,
aspire and imagine. But Foo is in chaos, and three transplants from that
dreamworld have been sent to retrieve Lev, who alone has the power to save Foo.
Enter Clover, a wisecracking, foot-high sidekick; Winter, a girl
with a special power of her own; and Geth, the rightful heir to Foo. Their
mission: to convince Lev that he has the power to save Foo. Can this unique
band of travelers help Lev overcome his doubt? Will Lev find the gateway in
time? Or will Sabine and his dark shadows find the gateway first and destroy
mankind?
Language: None.
Content: Talking about killing people, parental abuse, and stealing a
car.
Stars: 2
I'll start with my positive thoughts, what little I have of them…
For one, the cover is awesome. But, as they say, you can't judge a book by its
cover. And certainly not this book.
The characters are new
and unique, with good dynamics. I
really loved how awful Leven Thumps relatives are to him. Of course, it sounds
like the Harry Potter situation all over again , but Lev's aunt and uncle are
the complete opposite kind of awful. They're messy and lazy and live in a gross
house. I know it sounds awful of me to
like that they're abusive to him, but it adds a good layer to the story.
Winter was very cool--wait, okay, seriously, no pun intended. She leaves a bad family
situation, but learns to have confidence in herself, despite being told her
whole life that she's nothing. Her back
story, what there was of it, was intriguing.
Now, for what I didn't
like:
Basically everything. Leven
was selfish, way too weak-minded, and whiny. I'm all for the
hero-underetsimates-himself-but-then-discovers-self-confidence-and-becomes-super-awesome.
With Leven, the author just took it over the top and almost the entire book was
nothing but Leven's friends trying to convince him that he isn't worthless and
can save Foo. Suck it up and try anyways, dude.
The dialogue was cheesy,
the jokes fell through, the writing itself was nauseatingly bad, and the pacing lurched. It was excruciatingly boring, and the only thing that kept me
reading was the action and the tiny little part of me that really wanted to
like this book.
I'm not saying that the action was good, however. In fact, it
was some of the worst action I've ever
read. Not well described and too bizarre. It had no structure, no
rise-and-fall, no order. Of course, action isn't supposed to be
"organized" but it shouldn't feel like something that was just plopped into the story and made to fit.
But the thing I probably
could stand the least about this book was the bad guy, Sabine. Cheesy,
poorly conceived, and horrific--I mean
truly horrific--dialogue. If
you're going to build an antagonist up to be something as powerful and cruel as
Sabine, you better deliver.
My conclusion--this book looked very charming at first, but I'm not planning
on reading the rest of the series.
Laters,
~The Scribbler in the Attic
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