Levin Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

Thirsty for juvenile fantasy while you're waiting for Harry Potter and the Last Hurrah? Levin Thumps may not slake that thirst, but it will entertain you for an afternoon. The story revolves around young Levin, left in the care of his boringly cruel aunt and uncle who treat him like an indentured servant. Fate has other plans, however. Unbeknownst to Levin, he was born in a far away land called Foo and has the power of an Offing, which is like being able to influence which lottery ball is pulled out of the bin - only more exciting. Along the way to finding the Gateway to Foo Levin meets much more competent people than himself, namely a sentient toothpick named Geth, a wicked nit named Sabine who can control shadows, a friendly nit who can freeze the world, and Clover the Sycophant who has been secretly watching Levin all his life and now must help Levin make it to Foo alive.

My eleven year old has been begging me to read this book for a year or so and I finally got around to it last month. I'm afraid I didn't enjoy it as much as she did. I was not impressed when Obert Skye lifted from Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone from the first page, thank you very much. Perhaps because I enjoyed J.K. Rowling's first page so much I found this homage more irritating than flattering. Fortunately, the stylistic imitation ended quickly, but the story dragged for me because I felt Levin was a whiner who would become a hero no matter what he did. He was fated to win, after all

Why you should read this book: You love beautifully illustrated (Ben Sowards) and descriptively written children's fantasy, you have children who enjoy life and death adventure commented on by a cheeky mascot, you enjoy tales of exaggerated silliness in the vein of Roald Dahl, and you find the machinations of Fate comforting

Why you shouldn't read this book: You hate Fate. I cannot even begin to describe how important a role Fate has in this book. Everyone was proactive about their life except Levin who more or less schluffed moodily about letting Fate guide him towards Foo. Geth, the great warrior of the book, reincarnated as a tree, decided "Hey, I've got to help Levin so I better let myself get cut down and be made into a toothpick! I'll leave it to Fate! Weeee!" The story describes in morbid detail Geth's transformation from oral hygiene instrument to something that reminded me of the Extra Gum Guy. It was too much for me because I don't have a very good relationship with Fate, but then I'm not the target audience. My daughter, on the other hand, assures me that was a good part. And I'm just a grumpy old geezer, so she probably was right.

technorati tags: levin, thumps, fantasy, juvenile, fiction, obert, skye