Leven Thumps

Ladies,

At the get-go, let me say that I found Leven Thumps to be a quick and an enjoyable read. However, as a fan of fantasy literature, my expectations were probably too high. If I were to put Tolkien and CS Lewis at the top and JK Rowling somewhere in the middle, then I would put Leven Thumps down toward the bottom of the continuum.

In fact, after reading the bio of the author, I wondered if it had been written by a committee or as a publishing house ploy to see just what it would take to get a book to sell. Maybe the book was written simply to create an interactive opportunity for readers to “Begin their own adventure in Foo at LevenThumps.com." (This is something Orson Scott Card has done with some of his books.) Maybe its target audience is young adolescents with no attempt to reach mature adults. I don’t know how or why it was written, but let me explain why I was so aggravated by the time I finished the book.

On a positive note, I thought the comments about coincidences on page 60 and discouragement on page 144 were profound. I also thought the moral to the story about Geth being powerful even though he was a toothpick (don’t judge a book by its cover) was instructive. And I thought the idea of “casting” a shadow was clever. The fact that Sabine’s shadows: sought those who minds entertained selfish or conspiring thoughts (page 114), used self doubt as their most powerful tool, and could be dismissed with the snap of a finger was pretty neat.

However, there was way too much borrowing from other literary works. I noticed that some of you mentioned the similarities, too, but I felt like it was a cop-out from the author, copying rather than creating:

from Harry Potter: being raised by a mean aunt, sleeping on the porch (or under the stairs), Clover is like Doby the House Elf, Winter swells up just the Mr. Dursley’s sister, getting to Hogwarts is done in a similar manner as getting into Foo.

from Lord of the Rings: Sabin is a lot like Saron; Morfit sounds a lot like Mordor

from Celestine Prophecy: fate will make things turn out like they should

from Paradise Lost: Sabine / Satan don’t understand that what they want to do will not get them what they want; it will actually destroy everything

from XMen/Superheroes: Winter can’t touch Leven and the Earth Monster is something right out of the movies.

Plus the Chapter 30’s “The Occidental Tourist” was a “cute” play on Anne Tyler’s book, The Accidental Tourist.

I felt like the author was almost mocking the reader: the Gateway to Foo(l), those who have special gifts are “nits,” the king is a toothpick (page 132, 133, etc.) In fact, the scenes involving Geth are almost cartoon-like.

The writing is very good in places but sloppy and clichéd in others: page 197 “They hit the ground running and took off like there was no tomorrow,” page 199 “Leven had grown to sort of like the little guy . . . he couldn’t bear to just leave him for dead.”

And the author never convinced me of the whole premise for the book. In Lord of the Rings, I knew the ring had to be destroyed to stop Saron from taking over the world. In Leven Thumps I really didn’t buy the premise that there was a world where dreams exist and that without it the world would fall apart. I didn’t arrive at the literary state of “willing suspension of disbelief.” And the author didn’t give any real reason (except he said so) to explain why destroying the Gateway to Foo had to be done by a blood relative.

My copy of Leven Thumps was a gift from a friend who reviews children's lit. Next time I see her, I will get her opinion on the book and pass it on to you. I would love to see an interview with the author. In fact, I have a few questions I would like to ask him myself! I’m not sorry I read it and I will probably read the sequel. Actually, it was kind of fun to have an opportunity to really sink my teeth into literary analysis again. Thanks, Laurenda :)