The editorial review from "The School Library Journal" is the one to pay attention to, not the gushing endorsements which are strangely all shown twice. Also, in my opinion, many of the earlier reader reviews look more like requested endorsements than honest reader opinions, but maybe I believe that because I can't believe that anyone sincerely thought this book should be compared to any excellent work.
The writing is okay but only okay. It can't redeem the stiflingly cliched story line. This book starts with cliches and marshals them like soldiers in review. Then marches them through the pages, sometimes in column and sometimes in line abreast. This story smothers the reader in cliches. If you've ever read any coming of age story, you won't find anything new here.
This book might be entertaining to someone eight or younger. But really, why not read something with more flair, like "Time Warp Trio"? Or Kipling's "Kim" or "Jungle Book"? This is certainly not a book for young adults.
I would not be quite so harsh, given this is a first book, and authors should enjoy some encouragement, but the line of gushing reviews just rings so false to me, I feel someone needs to balance them. So this review is not harsher than I feel about this book, but it is harsher than I might otherwise voice.
Edit: I did a bit more research, because I'm just not used to reading something this bad in actual print. The author drew the cover himself, and it appears that the author fell in with a poor publisher (whom he is not longer with). In my opinion, a better quality publisher would have A) Not let the author do his own cover and B) either rejected this book or asked the author to improve it before publishing it.
Obey your first impulse when you see the cover, and avoid. There's nothing to see here. Move along...
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