Endymion Spring [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7–In 1452, a young printers devil toils for his master, Herr Gutenberg, who is in the process of printing a Bible. On a suitably dark and cold night, sinister Johann Fust arrives at Gutenbergs shop with a mysterious wooden chest decorated with dragons and serpents heads. In a parallel story set at Saint James College in Oxford in the present day, Blake, a professors son, discovers a wordless book with the title Endymion Spring, which was the printers devils name. The present-day narrative and the story of Endymion Spring cleverly intertwine as Blake discovers that the book is the key to all of the worlds knowledge. As Endymion lies hidden in Gutenbergs shop one night, Fust opens the wooden chest and, because of what Endymion learns, he is forced to flee. In an incredibly effective action scene, he eludes capture. Back in the present, Blake and his sister, Duck, find themselves pursued by a mysterious Person in Shadow and discover, as it leads them into the depths of the Bodleian Library, that Endymion Springs book has a mind of its own. Even if the promise of the clearly intriguing premise is not quite fulfilled, this book is certain to reach an audience looking for a page-turner, and it just might motivate readers to explore the true facts behind the fiction.–Tim Wadham, Maricopa County Library District, Phoenix, AZ
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 6-9. This debut novel, when offered to publishers at the manuscript stage, spurred an impressive bidding war. Why the fuss? For one thing, it's partly set at Oxford University, the same backdrop Philip Pullman used in The Golden Compass (1996). For another, its focus on a coveted artifact evokes Dan Brown's adult blockbuster The Da Vinci Code (2003). Blake, an American adolescent visiting modern-day Oxford, stumbles upon Endymion Spring-- one portion of "the most legendary, sought-after book in the world." As Blake attempts to complete the fragment while evading cutthroat members of an antiquarian book society, flashbacks reveal the book's fifteenth-century connections to the original printing press, recounted by an apprentice of Gutenberg himself. Though the pulse-racing descent into Oxford's subterranean library stacks is thrilling, not every reader will respond to the novel's scholarly atmosphere, and subplots intended to flesh out Blake's character (mainly his angst over his parents' separation) seem stiff and forced. Once the buzz surrounding this heavily promoted fantasy subsides, look for it primarily in the hands of bibliophiles who enjoyed Cornelia Funke's Inkheart (2003) and Inkspell (2005). Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers; 1St Edition edition (August 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385733801
• ISBN-13: 978-0385733809
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #189,974 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Almost, but not quite, September 21, 2006

By	T. Burger (Chicago) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Although I had read partial reviews that were somewhat negative saying this wasn't the next big thing or certainly not "The Da Vinci Code for kids", I have to admit that I expected more.

The story is told in two parts. One is the creation of the spectacular book around which this story revolves, and then the story itself, told in present time at Oxford University.

I had two main problems: I wasn't terribly intrigued by the "spectacular book", and I enjoyed the medieval "back story" more than I did what I believe to have been the main story.

The main character and supporting characters from the 15th century were considerably more tangible than the brother and sister team from present time. Honestly, I didn't care much for either of the latter. The boy, Blake, was too whiny, grumpy and downtrodden to really root for, and his sister was too much of a pain to be likable. Sometimes pain-in-the-rear characters are immensely likable, but I didn't find myself rooting for either.

Also, this was written from a "third person limited" point-of-view. In each part - medieval and present day - there was one main character. In third person limited, the narrator is generally limited to what that one character could theoretically observe. Therefore, I was puzzled as to several usages of British English. To cite one example, when Blake thought of a flashlight, it was always referred to as a torch. In third person limited, it would be referred to as a flashlight - because Blake speaks American English.

Perhaps it was my dull brain, and this is entirely plausible, but I'm not sure that the mystery of the book was entirely resolved. Perhaps it was and I missed it. If so, it's probably because I was a lazy reader at times, frustrated with the material in front of me and looking to push forward and finish the book so I could move on to the next one on my stack.

Somewhere in here was a terrific story dying to be told. But somewhere within Delacorte was an editor not doing a very good of tightening things up.

Honestly, I don't believe the fault lies with the author. Every great writer will admit that they would be lost without their editor. This book was one good editor away from being a terrific read.

40 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hope springs eternal, September 3, 2006

By	E. R. Bird "Ramseelbird" (Manhattan, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If you should turn to your beloved children and ask them, "Well, kids. Where would you like to go on Spring Break this year?", do not be overly surprised if they should scream in unison, "OXFORD!!!". I hate to break it to you, but these days Oxford is coming off in children's literature like the coolest place on the planet. First Philip Pullman put his mark on it with the, "His Dark Materials" series. Now newbie middle reader author Matthew Skelton is putting his own distinctive brand on that most notable of halls of knowledge. A fantasy with the good grace not to put "Book One" on its cover (even though it is), Skelton's newest tale is a sweet ode to the written word and an exciting tale of intrigue, damnation, and the book to end all books.

He didn't find the book. The book found him. When American expatriate and teenager Blake moved to Oxford, England with his annoying little sister and scholar mother he expected to be bored. What he did not expect was to be bitten by an ancient crumbling novel with the words, "Endymion Spring" on the cover. Intrigued by his find, Blake suddenly finds increasingly strange things happening to him. He receives a little paper dragon that seems to have a mind of its own. His sister is acting quieter and more withdrawn than usual. By the time he understands what he's gotten into, it's far too late. Blake's fate is tied in with that of the original Endymion Spring, a boy apprentice to the great printer Gutenberg himself. Leaping between the past and the present, this tale draws together scholars of every age, the lure of power, and how one book can change the entire world. Magic and research combine in a terrifying mix.

The book that "Endymion Spring" is going to find itself compared to the most won't be anything "His Dark Materials" related, but rather Cornelia Funke's highly popular, "Inkspell". But of the two books, "Endymion" comes out the better. Skelton's writing is crisp and to the point. Plus, any fellow who can pull off as tense a library chase sequence as is found here has my undying admiration. The two storylines that leap back and forth throughout the tale are easy to keep apart, partly because one is written in the first person and the other in the third. Interestingly enough, however, Skelton is far better at realistic drama and action than he is out-and-out fantasy. The magical elements of this book are fine and all, but when we finally learn why the book is as important as it is it comes off as disappointing. Better to keep the magic mysterious and strange rather than bog it down in muddled explanations. The prose, by and large, is good. Only once in a while does Skelton slip up and put in something silly like, "He suddenly comprehended the concept of infinity", or sentences along those lines.

Characters and settings comes across strong and clear in this story. Oxford was dealt with a loving hand by Pullman, but Skelton seems to have a much deeper affection for the campus. His careful explanation of what each building is, the history of this or that library, and the beauty of the skyline itself somehow never becomes dull. As I mentioned before, don't be surprised if your more bookish kids start hankering for it. The characters are also well-drawn. Blake's mother has the unenviable part of the antagonist, and sometimes she does come off a bit shrill. Still, her presence allows the present day story to feel firmly grounded in reality. You really want our heroes to succeed, but at the same time you're biting your fingernails to keep them out of trouble. I was rather amused that one of the book's potential villains was committing the mortal sin of suggesting that digitization was the wave of the future. Heaven forfend! And while the villain is as clear as crystal from page one, at least that person will be a surprise to the child reader who didn't see their malevolence coming.

Skelton has a firm hand on his material, but he comes off as in love with too many elements. In the book's Historical Note at the back he mentions how he stumbled across the intriguing Gutenberg/Fust/Faust connection and worked it into his novel. But while Skelton is good at including everything from historical images to dragons that appear in trees, sometimes he goes a little too far. For a moment or two, it looks as if Skelton might really work the Faust story into his narrative in some way. Unfortunately, that detail never really sticks. Faust gets bandied about here and there but never makes any contribution to the tale itself and instead serves as a distraction from the larger action. Similarly, Skelton once heard a story of Laurens Coster and a beech tree that he, in turn, transformed into a tale of tree dragons and blood. I would argue that while his ode to Coster is admirable, the actual selection is awkward when discussed in the book. Skelton is juggling too many references, odes, and tributes. If he could have just removed one or two, it would have done his novel a world of good.

A little predictable, yes. I doubt any adult reading this book won't see that Blake and his sister are bound to be friends or that Blake is bound to have a dramatic climax so as to not get in trouble with his mom. But kids reading the book would only feel this way if they've read hundreds of fantasies of this type. On the whole, those who are not reluctant readers should enjoy it. Quite fun.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never Judge a Book by Its Cover - It Can Bite!, August 24, 2006

By	T. Mangne (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Little did Blake know the adventure on which he would be taken when the volume "Endymion Spring" bit him from its shelf at Bodleian Library at Oxford University. Together with his annoyingly precocious sister, Duck, they set out to solve the mystery of a book whose pages are blank to all except Blake who has been chosen by the book. But for what? And who was Endymion Spring?

Matthew Skelton has constructed a story to be loved by anyone who loves books. The plot moves between present day Oxford and fifteenth century Germany where Gutenberg has begun to print his now famous bible. While the characters are fairly one dimensional and the writing is plain and straight forward, the story is a wonderful concept mixing scholarly research, the legend of Faust, dragons and above all books.

I read it in one sitting, not able to put down. That's about the highest praise I can give book. It kept me completely enthralled the whole time.