Elijah Pendleton's entire thirteen year existence has just been upended upon his discovery of a long-held family secret.
Contrary to the belief that his parents' abandonment had been of their own volition - as his misanthropic aunts seem to take great pleasure in making sure to remind him any, and every, chance they get - turns out to have actually been a desperate, last-ditch bid to place him safely from the reach of a merciless and power-hungry ruler; a selfless sacrifice that will ultimately lead to their own imprisonment in a not so faraway kingdom, where legends say they languish to this very day . . . awaiting their son’s prophetic return home.
This revelation – as unbelievable as it sounds - transforms Elijah, from a boy burdened by the weight of abandonment all his life, into a determined young hero ready to face a new world and reclaim the family that was robbed from him . . . and becomes the igniting spark that will set this extraordinary adventure into motion.
Can Elijah's own burgeoning abilities be the salvation that brings this otherworldly realm from the brink of collapse and forge the path to his destiny?
Elijah’s story progresses nicely through discrete action sequences. Some descriptions are wordy and stilted (“as though he had just stepped into a lush Bob Ross painting littered with impeccable detail of briars, brambles and tall shrubs flanking the trail before him”), and there’s an unfortunate tendency to make good people pretty and bad ones “thoroughly repulsive.” The exposition primarily relies on Elijah listening to lectures from other characters. The final battle between Elijah and Theodoric rushes past and strains believability: despite Elijah’s very recent discovery of any magical abilities, he casts a level ten spell, a metric of magical difficulty that is never fully explained.
Despite these blips, the novel is entertaining and endearing. The blend of references to various mythologies (sasquatch, wingless dragons, giants called Nephilims) and nods to more recent works (a flying broom, a golden compass, faux-Latin spell names) makes a complicated world with lots of possibilities that are only hinted at. Unresolved questions, incomplete reunions, and a new quest nicely set up the sequel. Teens who enjoy seeing a prophesied hero stumbling into power and wandering across a fantasy map while making friends will be pleased by Alexander’s debut.
Takeaway: This is an enjoyable diversion for teen fans of traditional portal fantasies.
Great for fans of Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander series.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: B+
Illustrations: -
Editing: B-
Marketing copy: A
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"Elijah Pendleton's adventure begins when he rescues a cat caught in an oak tree. That's pretty normal for any thirteen year old (at least, any good-hearted thirteen year old), but not when there has never been an oak tree in the yard before. It's impossible to say whether things grow odder when the oak tree vanishes. Well, they do, but not because of the oak tree. Things grow odder because Elijah Pendleton is in a YA adventure novel.Alexander uses multiple tropes frequent readers of such novels will recognize, but chief among them is Elijah's home life. He's miserable at school, but part of that is because he lives with two aunts reminiscent of Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker from James and the Giant Peach. His aunts are physically and emotionally abusive, but Elijah is granted rescue -- of a sort -- when he learns two facts about his long-lost parents. First, they are Enchanters, and he has inherited their magical abilities. Second, they are not in Hawaii, as he was brought up to think, but in a land called the Mythic Realms, held captive. What follows, as Elijah sets out to rescue them, is an epic adventure that puts me in mind of the fantasy novels I devoured all through middle and high school.While I'm certain this book would be enjoyed by girls who were like me and will read every fantasy novel they can get their hands on, its primary audience will be boys in middle and early high school. Elijah's travels are thrilling, and the Mythic Realms equal any high-fantasy world I can recall from my own reading adventures. His companions (because what's a YA quest novel without companions?) hit the perfect balance between being amusing and genuine, with a delightful wit that any preteen will enjoy.My one complaint about the book is purely cosmetic and may well not bother most readers. There are a few handwritten notes throughout, and the fonts chosen to present the handwriting were difficult to read without squinting. Skimming over them rather than reading every word didn't affect my enjoyment of the story, but those with poor eyesight or who enjoy reading in dim light (for instance, when they should be asleep) may struggle at those points. On the whole, however, the book was a delight to read, bringing back memories of when I would set down a similar novel and fantasize about what my own adventures might be like if I were an Enchanter. This is the best new YA novel I've read all year!"
