The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin's Map [Paperback]

W. C. Peever (Author), M. Spencer Wolf (Editor), Kelly Amancio (Cover Design)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 23, 2010

"Hi, my name is Charlie Burrows.  I am twelve years old and am currently running for my life, I really don't even have time to talk to you, so I need to make it brief.  Eight months ago I discovered that I was a descendant of the ancient Druids of England.  Big deal right?  That's what I thought too until my best friend (also a descendant) Bailey stared to be able to hurl huge boulders in the air using her mind, and I was able to jump into alternative dimensions.  Ya...we have x-men like abilities that our parents never told us about!  Thanks so much mom.  You would think they could have at least been honest with us when we asked them to check for monsters under the bed. 'Yes dear, that is just an escaped troll from the fourth kingdom, animal control is on their way."  To be fair my father who disappeared when I was two is the one who should have told me, but like I said he disappeared.  So I was transported, well kidnapped really to this huge castle in Scotland where they train freaks like me to be part of the Order...which is too hard to explain right now, because I have the entire Vanari (Bad guys) army trying to find me before I can decode this ancient map that Merlin (my great great...really great grandfather, left behind.  So to cap it off, it has been a rough year of dealing with my new abilities, trying to pass algebra, finding a father I never remember meeting and trying to keep humanity alive.  Ok that splintering wood sound is the front door of the castle, I have to run.  If you want to learn more about me, than read this book, but you're probably better off not knowing, because I have not had a solid night sleep since I learned that monsters under the bed are actually real."

Editorial Reviews

Review

Midwest Book Review  "A riveting read and very highly recommended." 

FIVE STARS- "thrilling story, I dove into an adventure that I didn't want to end. I was thrilled, enchanted and mesmerized by the characters and the worlds that they lived in."
--booknoise411.blogspot.com

"Whenever I've described the book, I've been asked if it's like Harry Potter. Yes but I liked this book better" --pussreboots.pair.com

jumperchroniclesseries.com

From the Inside Flap

"Hi, my name is Charlie Burrows.  I am twelve years old and am currently running for my life, I really don't even have time to talk to you, so I need to make it brief.  Eight months ago I discovered that I was a descendant of the ancient Druids of England.  Big deal right?  That's what I thought too until my best friend (also a descendant) Bailey stared to be able to hurl huge boulders in the air using her mind, and I was able to jump into alternative dimensions.  Ya...we have x-men like abilities that our parents never told us about!  Thanks so much mom.  You would think they could have at least been honest with us when we asked them to check for monsters under the bed. 'Yes dear, that is just an escaped troll from the fourth kingdom, animal control is on their way."  To be fair my father who disappeared when I was two is the one who should have told me, but like I said he disappeared.  So I was transported, well kidnapped really to this huge castle in Scotland where they train freaks like me to be part of the Order...which is too hard to explain right now, because I have the entire Vanari (Bad guys) army trying to find me before I can decode this ancient map that Merlin (my great great...really great grandfather, left behind.  So to cap it off, it has been a rough year of dealing with my new abilities, trying to pass algebra, finding a father I never remember meeting and trying to keep humanity alive.  Ok that splintering wood sound is the front door of the castle, I have to run.  If you want to learn more about me, than read this book, but you're probably better off not knowing, because I have not had a solid night sleep since I learned that monsters under the bed are actually real."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Savant Books & Publications LLC (July 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984117555
• ISBN-13: 978-0984117550
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

W. C. Peever studied creative writing at Bennington College in picturesque Vermont where he began writing about Charlie. He currently lives with his wife and two baby girls on the beautiful North Coast of Massachusetts, where he has just finished writing the second book in the Jumper Chronicles series. When he is not held up in his study, furiously writing, he is facilitating the exploration of this sometimes scary and always exciting new world that his young daughters are toddling around. W. C. Peever's love of writing is apparent, but in his own words his "true love is and always will be [his] family."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As first novel it entertains well, but hope the sequels improve in style, September 5, 2010

By 

Rabbi Yonassan Gershom (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin's Map (Paperback)

Readers of Harry Potter will immediately notice the obvious parallels in this book: A young American boy named Charlie turns 12 and learns that he is from a long line of Druids dating back to Merlin himself. With this heritage can come various abilities or super-powers, and also much personal danger. Charlie is whisked away from Massachussetts to a school in a Scottish castle that reminds us of Hogwarts, where he discovers his own special ability. In addition, the Oracle at the school promises an additional ability to the student or students who can find the sword Excalibur, which is hidden somewhere on the school grounds. Thus begins a school contest that soon develops into a serious -- and dangerous -- quest to find the Sword before it falls into the hands of the evil Vanari, who want to use Merlin's secrets to rule the world. In the process, Charlie also finds out why his father disappeared when he was only two, and comes to terms with his feelings of abandonment.

What is original here - and different from the Potter books - is the idea that individuals in this Druidic line inherit various innate powers such as invisibility, time travel, teleportation, psychokinesis, mind control, etc. and that these cannot be learned. What you get is what you get, and you must learn to work with that. The ending does a very good job of setting up a team of young heros who can work well together and will be able to "jump" into various time periods as they search for the lost power-crystals that Merlin hid in various times and places. Hence the series title, "The Jumper Chronicles."

As a coming-of-age quest novel, this wasn't bad. I found myself engaged in the story and could identify with the characters, even though I'm not very familiar with the Norse mythology upon which it is based. (Did the Norse gods leave Earth to fight a galactic war and put the Druids in charge of protecting humanity while they were gone? Or did the author make all this up? I'm clueless. But I do know that having Moses be a descendant of Merlin REALLY stretched it for me, since, as far as I know, there is no geneologcal connection between Jews and Druids, unless you go back to Adam and Eve. But OK, I'll call it poetic license and figure that this story is happening in some parallel universe and not the one I know from Jewish history.)

Now for the nitpicks: As other reviewers here pointed out, this book badly needed a better proofreader. There are many places where the spell checker just was not good enough (such as "form" instead of "from," both of which are real words the checker would not catch). Plus there are a lot of punctuation errors, especially with quotation marks, where, if "he said" is inserted into the middle of a remark, there is no second opening quotation mark where the words from the same person continue. I do realize that a lot of small publishers rely on authors to do their own proofing nowadays. But this is all the more reason to have somebody else -- even the family's best speller will do -- read it through before it goes to press. And for heaven sakes, please JUSTIFY the text! The ragged edges in this book were ANNOYING and very unprofessional-looking!

Another thing that annoyed me was the author's constant use of school lectures to fill in the historical details. As Orson Scott Card pointed out in his book How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy, the absolute WORST way to get this kind of info across is to have some scientist or professor stand up there giving a lecture. Sure, you see this in old sci-fi movies, but there are much better ways in modern literature, such as finding an old manuscript, reading it for themselves in a book, questioning another character (which they did do to some extent with the werecat), letting the reader into somebody's thoughts, or even a vision or dream. But it is just too much coincidence to have every school lesson also be a major clue.

But in spite of all these nitpicks, I'm still giving it four stars, because I enjoyed the story. Hopefully, as Charlie and friends pursue more quests in the series, the writing will also improve.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow...., August 1, 2010

By 

Cara L. Preston "uofm2014" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin's Map (Paperback)

The Jumper Cronicles book 1: The Quest For Merlin's Map by W.C. Peever is absouletly amazing, one of the best books of the year! You won't want to put it down! The characters are soooo real and realatable, especially Charlie, the awkward preteen boy. I really liked the character Charlie, because he was actually believable! This book has the perfect twist of fantasy, mythology, and normal people. You'll be gripping the edge of your seat while reading this book...you'll need to know what happens next and what does happen you'll never be expecting! This book is great for people who like Harry Potter and Pendragon, fantasy, or are just looking for a good read! This book is a must read! Pick it up today, you won't regret it!

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flawed and Lacking, August 19, 2010

By 

Kevin L. Nenstiel "omnivore" (Kearney, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jumper Chronicles: The Quest for Merlin's Map (Paperback)

I've seen this trend in countless undergraduate writing classes: a young writer thinks his story can't matter like those he's read elsewhere, so he robotically mimics others. The finished product may or may not entertain readers, but it certainly does not satisfy or nourish our needs. Some people may like this book, but it's a nine days' wonder which will likely have no visible impact.

On turning twelve, Charlie Burrows and Bailey Relling receive their inheritance, a magic lineage stretching back to prehistory. They attend an enchanted academy on the far side of the globe, where they are the only hope to return balance to an unending magical war. When the academy turns out to be the site of the next big battle, only our adolescent heroes can save all existence. Sound familiar?

This book slavishly copies Harry Potter, not just point for point, but in places word for word. It doesn't try to conceal this mimicry. Author W.C. Peever either lacks courage to tell his own story, or lacks respect for his audience, thinking we won't notice that nothing original or surprising happens. If I gave you the first Harry Potter novel, you could plot this book on graph paper.

Our author brings in some real-world references, but he mangles them terribly. His attempts to create a hybrid myth of Druidic, Greek, Norse, and Hebrew traditions, show little concern for the cultures and histories of any tradition. Dates, facts, stories, and personalities sprawl all over the joint. Audiences who read fantasy generally also read myth, so his inconsistencies will not go unnoticed.

Also the book is physically tough to read. The hit-or-miss punctuation, unattributed dialog, approximate spelling, stilted English, and ragged margins drain readers' attention and willpower. Peever's mistakes are so basic that he clearly thinks Spell Check exempts him from proofreading. I can understand an author thinking that, but surely the editor or publisher should have caught these fundamental flaws.

Peever's heart is in the right place. He wants to tell a story to entertain and uplift his audience. But his brain doesn't come on the journey. I gave Percy Jackson five stars, and it's a Potter knock-off, but it's a good knock-off. Peever just goes through the motions, and the finished book lacks any spark. Save your scarce reading time for books that care as much as you do.