Review: Good read but could have been so much better.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 12, 2011
This is a good read for the price but it could have been so much better. Like so many fantasy stories this is a quest of self discovery and growth. There are some fabulous ideas in the story such as how goblins are born and the world of the Protectorate is neatly developed. I also enjoyed the way that our heros are not from noble ,true or glorious ancestors but rather from the wrong side. But I do hate it when an emerging new world has references to ours. For example Jack plays poker. Suddenly I am dragged out of this imaginative world into 21st century Earth. Why not just let him play cards.It may be because the  two central heros were teenagers but I found the supporting characters much more interesting. Prudence, Zanzibar and Tom Fisk are rough, engaging and memorable, each individually drawn with warts and all. Even the tautho Daniel is a very believable character. But the two kids are amazingly bland ( though their roles  are the reverse of so many male/female protaganists ) and Olive is given some of the most excruciating lines to say.Maybe I am mean giving this book such an average review as the price was so reasonable but it was so close to being a great fantasy novel that I felt very frustrated. If you have not read much fantasy or just want an easy read this may be the book for you.