The Leap [Paperback]

Jonathan Stroud (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: 5 and up

After her best friend, Max, drowns, Charlie Fletcher is overwhelmed with shock and grief. When she attempts to explain what happened that day at the Mill Pond, no one believes her. The doctors and her mother think she may be hallucinating, or worse-crazy. Even her sympathetic brother can't understand what is happening to her. Charlie nearly died trying to save Max and as an aftermath to this terrifying experience, Charlie begins to have incredibly vivid dreams, where she sees Max walking far in the distance in a strange land. She tries to catch up, but she can never reach him. Sleep soon becomes her only passion. But one night, after waking up from a dream with cuts and bruises, she realizes that her nighttime excursions are real. She alone has the power to hunt for Max. And she knows he's out there somewhere. To save him, she'll follow his trail wherever it goes-even beyond the limits of this world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Coming to terms with the loss of a loved one is the subject of this second novel from a talented author.

Charlie is devastated by the tragic accident at a disused mill pool involving her best friend, Max. Refusing to believe he is dead, Charlie embarks on an emotional journey in her dreams, where she believes she can see Max just ahead of her on the road. Soon her dreamworld becomes more important to her than anything else until fantasy and reality merge and give rise to strange events. With the help of her brother, James, Charlie learns to face the truth. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Jonathan Stroud is the author of the New York Times best-selling Bartimaeus Trilogy, as well as The Leap, The Last Siege, and Buried Fire. He lives in Englad with his family.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Miramax (October 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786851953
• ISBN-13: 978-0786851959
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #306,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jonathan Stroud (www.jonathanstroud.com) is the author of the New York Times best-selling Bartimaeus Trilogy, as well as Heroes of the Valley, The Leap, The Last Siege, and Buried Fire. He lives in England with his family.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Deliciously Eerie, Mysterious Novel from Jonathan Stroud, July 4, 2004

By 

Michael Mihalik "Author, Debt is Slavery and ... (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Leap (Definitions Series) (Paperback)

This is the second novel written by Jonathan Stroud, the author of the Bartimaeus trilogy (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem's Eye, and Ptolemy's Gate). As with Stroud's other books, this book contains some sophisticated themes.

The novel tells the story of a young girl, Charlie (short for Charlotte), who witnesses the drowning death of her best friend, Max. She tries to save him, but is stopped in her rescue attempt by other-worldly forces. When Charlie tells her story, nobody believes her but think she is suffering delusions due to her recent trauma.

In the meantime, Charlie dreams of Max and is convinced that he is still alive. She vows to find him in her dreams and rescue him.

This book contains a similar narrative device to the one Stroud uses in "Amulet". The first-person narrative point-of-view switches between Charlie and her older brother James. It was confusing at first, because unlike "Amulet" there are no chapter titles telling you who's currently telling the story. However, once you figure out what's going on, it's an effective method of telling what's going on inside Charlie and James' heads.

The story is a supernatural one where Charlie travels in an alternate world in her dreams. Stroud is adept at creating suspense and immersing you in exciting action scenes when you can't take the suspense any more.

Like "Buried Fire", the ending seems a little abrupt, but it is satisfying. Maybe I just thought it was abrupt because I didn't want the story to end! What other measure of good writing can there be when the story ends and leaves you wanting more? Highly recommended.

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Michael Mihalik is the author of Debt is Slavery: and 9 Other Things I Wish My Dad Had Taught Me About Money. Learn how to gain control of your finances, pay off your debt, and create financial security!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Leap" in headlong, February 18, 2005

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Leap (Paperback)

Losing a friend is one of the greatest traumas a person can have, especially if they somehow feel responsible for the death. Fantasy writer Jonathan Stroud tackled that sensitive topic in "The Leap," an early novel that straddled the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

Charlie nearly died trying to rescue her drowning pal Max, and now she's suffering from her grief and shock. She remembers strange green women dragging him down, yet no one believes her. But things change suddenly when she begins to have strange dreams, of a surreal land where Max is walking in the distance.

In her dreams, Charlie encounters a strange man who tells her that Max is heading toward the Great Fair -- if he joins an alluring magic dance there, he will be lost forever. But the dreams are having a lasting effect on Charlie -- she's waking up with scratches, and thinks she sees wolves from her dream outside her house. Can she save Max, or will she herself be lost in the world of the dead?

It's a credit to Stroud that while including elements of fantasy, he's able to portray grief and guilt so expertly. In fact, as good as the dream sequences are, the detached, erratic behavior that Charlie has in the real world is much, much more compelling.

Stroud alternates between lush, descriptive writing in the dream realm, and more down-to-earth styles when Charlie is awake. And it's deeply affecting when he describes how the loss of Max has hit Charlie, her family, and his grieving parents. The only flaw is that we only get brief glimpses of Max; we never really get to know him.

But Stroud hits the bulls-eye with Charlie and her family -- she's determined to save Max, and not willing to believe that he's gone. And her family is afraid that she's going insane. To keep things grounded, her brother James narrates some chapters, giving an idea of what her family thinks of her strange behavior. James thoughts are as powerful as Charlie's, out of fear that his sister is going bonkers.

Stroud never quite explains whether the "dream world" events are real, but perhaps it's better that he left it that way. In the end, "The Leap" is a powerful tale about grief and love.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hoping for another Bartimus-like fantasy adventure...but this was completely different., September 19, 2006

By 

R. Nicholson - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Leap (Paperback)

An interesting story, but I'm not sure one I really enjoyed.

Being a fan of Stroud's Bartimus series I was looking forward to another good fantasy read, however this effort was much different than what I'd expected. It started out with what seemed like an promising fantasy tale, but gradually turned out to be an increasingly dark psychological thriller.

All in all, this book is well written and has a sense of style, pace and atmosphere. Stroud has the ability to take the reader into a story and I must admit to a feeling of creepy discomfort as I approached the end of this short novel.

A good book, but just not a book that I could classify as one of my favorites. 3-3 1/2 Stars