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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Gateway Between Dream and Reality, January 30, 2005
An unwanted half nephew, an uncaredfor daughter, a mysterious lifelong companion, and a transformed ruler are the main characters in this book where the World of Dreams and and our view of Reality meet. These four are brought together, quite literally by fate, to complete a task that only they can manage.
Leven Thumps, 14, is the last member in his family and only he can close the gateway between the Dream World, Foo, and Reality that his grandfather created decades earlier. If he doesn't manage to do so, Foo is doomed to distruction and Reality is fated to be a world of monotony; without dreams, imagination, and creativity. His companions are: Winter, a thirteen-year-old visitor from Foo sent to help Lev in his plight, has the ability to freeze anything she wants just by thinking; Clover, a 12 inch creature from Foo who has watched over Lev since he was born; and Geth, the rightful King of Foo transformed into a seed (at least to start).
This book was fun to read and hard to put down. Parts are so funny I find myself laughing out-loud, disturbing the others around me. It has a truly full story with a distinguishable beginning, middle, and end. Even though it is the first in a series you still feel satisfied at the end that you've come to some kind of resting place while waiting, impatiently, for its sequal. Appropriate for just about any age 9-99. Parents, check the chapter titles for humorous plays on classic songs, idioms, and book titles, plus note the inclusion of a scene right out of the movie Tremors.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderul Fantasy full of Whimsy!, August 31, 2005
Obert Skye's impressive debut, "Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo" treads water with that of Lemony Snicket and Frank Baum. His prose is full of humorous whimsy (ala loveable talking toothipick!), wonderful characters, fantastic and wonderful moments, and true originality. Leven Thumps is fourteen years old, and lives a life of true sadness in Oaklahoma, where his guardians treat him cruely. This all changes when a small creature named Clover, comes and changes Leven's world; telling him that he is capable of amazing powers and is the only one who can save a wonderful place called Foo; thereby possibly saving the entire Earth itself. Leven must accomplish this all by destroying the gateway between Foo and reality before the evil Sabine can reach it and merge reality with Foo, thereby ending dreams forever in mankind. Along the way, Leven recieves help from a girl named Winter, who has the ability to freeze objects, and a talking toothpick named Geth, the rightful king of Foo. Skye weaves a wonderful plot in this first book of a proposed series. Some younger readers might think the story takes too long to be set up, but that's the main theme of a first book in a series; to introduce the readers to the characters and the world. Skye pulls the plotting of impressively, making even the the most boring setting such as Oaklahoma come alive with wonder. A good chunk of the beginning of the book is used to set up the series and the plot, but Skye handles the sometimes complicated situation with skill. Skye's originality should alone make this book a keeper seeing as the world is populated by nits, offings, sycophunts, and candy that rearranges your face rather than the usual elves, dwarves, and dragons! The one minor problem as other reviewers have mentioned is that Skye sometimes tells the readers about situations rather than explaining them, which is a passable mistake and does not detract from the wonder of the story. So fantasy lovers, come join Leven, Winter, Clover, and Geth on their quirky, funny, and fantastical adventure to Foo where the word impossible doesn't exist and dreams become reality! (Highly reccommended.)
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
lots of flaws but also many great moments, July 14, 2005
Leven Thumps admittedly has some major problems. Its main character, Leven, is too shallowly drawn and far too passive throughout the novel--more acted upon than acting. The book is overlong by about 50-70 pages with some repetitive parts. Its villain isn't sharply drawn enough and not quite villainous enough. There seems to be a disappointing pattern of equating moderate mundane villainy with being overweight or homely. And far too often Skye tells the reader what is happening rather than showing it.
Despite those many flaws, however, some of them substantial, Gateway remains a highly enjoyable read due to the author's wonderful sense of originality and whimsy. Foo is literally a sort of dreamland peopled by various creatures such as nits (humans who've wandered in accidentally and who each have a singular gift of power), rants (a creature whose body is one half is human but whose other half is in continuous flux depending on what someone in the real world is dreaming at the time) and Lithens (creatures who travel exclusively by fate). Rare is the teen fantasy (or adult for that matter) that doesn't round up the usual suspects--elves, dwarves, dragons, horseclans, etc--and Skye should be commended just for stepping out of the mold, though even more for the creative joy he shows.
Foo is threatened internally by Sabine, creator of shadows, who wishes to merge reality and foo by finding the single regular gateway between the two (the "normal" method of entering Foo is too fun to ruin by telling here). Leven, your typical teen-who-has-a-quest-sprung-on-him character, is joined by Winter (a young girl his age of the same character mold), Clover (a small cat-like creature from Foo attached to Leven since birth), and Geth (who various incarnations include, yes, a talking toothpick).
Not enough is done with Foo itself, though clearly it will be more fully explored in the second book so that isn't much of a complaint. The plot has it fits and starts and can get repetitive, but Skye often saves it with more startlingly original ideas and humorous lines/dialogue. Geth the talking toothpick, for example, is perhaps the most original character I've seen and it's near impossible to read his sections without a constant chuckle. There are other examples but why ruin them?
Winter is a pretty strongly drawn character, as is Geth and even to some extent Clover, though less so. Unfortunately, Leven himself is not as strong and since Sabine is also a relatively weakly drawn character, their conflict at the center of the book pales quite a bit.
As mentioned, despite the many flaws, Gateway is highly enjoyable, certainly one of the most original books in this genre I've read (and I've read a lot) if not one of the best written. But given the choice of another adequately or slightly above average cookie-cutter fantasy for teens and one not as well written but populated by fresh ideas, I'll take the latter. One also assumes, or at least hopes, that the author will improve on the flaws in book two, while keeping the originality and humor. Strongly recommended despite its problems.
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