The Unwritten Girl Unwritten Books 1
James Bow
Boardwalk Book
Dundurn Group
ISBN 9781550026047
The premise of this book grabbed me right away, and to be honest, the whole series looks amazing. Rosemary Watson is seeing things. Characters seem to unfold into existence and they are after her, and they definitely want something from her. Soon, her brother Theo is home from school but he seems to be captured by a book. Rosemary soon realizes that the characters she is seeing, her brother's single-minded focus on a book, and her life turned upside down by Puck, the fairy shapeshifter from Shakespeare, appearing and trying to guide her, means she has not lost her mind but great things are at stake. Soon Puck, Rosemary and her new friend Peter McAllister, are lost in an adventure in the land of fiction.
The story had an amazing pace. Once you start reading it you will be hard- pressed to put it down. The characters were incredible, and the plot, mind-blowing. In many ways it is almost as if Madeleine L'Engle's two main series crossed paths in this book - Chronos, real world time and Kairos, other time, science fiction and fantasy have crossed paths. And much like Meg in the Kairos novels, Rosemary is a great heroine who discovers herself and grows into herself as the novel progresses. With reading, on average, over 100 books a year, there are lots of books I like, but few I absolutely love. This one falls into that second category.
I have had the pleasure of meeting James Bow on a few occasions in and around the University of Waterloo and other events in and around Kitchener/ Waterloo. I had heard the words genius and prodigy spoken about him on a few occasions and by different sources. But it was not until I read this book that I really glimpsed what they were talking about. This book was masterfully written. Of over 150 books I read this year, it is one of my favorites and one I keep thinking about even months later. I think it is a book Madeleine L'Engle would have loved reading; it seems like something she would have enjoyed. For teachers and students there are some great resources on James' website to supplement this book. All I can say is this book was amazing. I wish there were a way to give it more than 5 out of 5 stars! I look forward to the other two books in this series and hope the three fiction books he has in the works see the press soon.
Books by James Bow:
Icarus Down
The Unwritten Books:
The Unwritten Girl
Fathom Five
The Young City
Mysteries Revealed:
Animal Mysteries Revealed
Earth Mysteries Revealed
Space Mysteries Revealed
Non-Fiction:
Lamborghini: Superstar Cars
Earth's Secrets: Invisible Worlds
Deep Space Extremes
Baseball: Sports Science
Cycling: Sports Science
Saving Endangered Plants and Animals: Science Solves It
Rescue Missions: Science Solves It
1 comment:
Thank you so much for this kind review. I'm really flattered. Though, if you've heard the words "genius" and "prodigy" connected to my name, I really wonder who you've been talking to. :-)
I hope you enjoy the next two books in the series and, hopefully, I'll have more fiction books to come in the near future.
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