Format: Hardcover, 384 pages
Release Date: January 3, 2017
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Amy Lennox doesn't know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother's childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay.Amy's grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy's new power is, it also brings danger—someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever the cost.
Mechthild Gläser's The Book Jumper is a wonderfully written, vivid, fast paced, and entertaining story that should appeal to readers of all ages. 16-year old Amy Lennox is the story's narrator. She is the daughter of Alexis, who fled her home in Stormsay, Scotland when she was 17, and ended up in Germany. After a heartbreaking situation involving both Alexis and Amy, the two decide to run away from their issues, and return to Scotland for a little vacation.
Stormsay is a place where two families, the Lennox's and Macalister's have been given the job of protecting the literary world from encroachers. A job that has been in both families for centuries. Amy soon discovers that her mother has been keeping a few secrets from her. Not including the fact that she has a Grandmother, Lady Mairead or the fact that she has the ability to jump into ACTUAL BOOKS! Can you imagine having the ability to jump into a book you adore, and be there in person as it plays out? I'm in!
Amy, who is a bibliophile to core, makes her way through an assortment of books from The Jungle Book, to Oliver Twist, to Peter Pan, and a slew of other well known literary
masterpieces. Amy will bump into a whole slew of characters including Shere Khan, the evil tiger from The Jungle Book, and Werther, from the book "The Sorrows of Werther" by Goethe. (I actually had to look this particular book up because I had not heard of it before.) Werther will become Amy's most trusted confidante while also dealing with his own story's issues.
It is a place where her talents as a book jumper will come as easy as eating a slice of bread, but it is her courage & determination that may be all that stands in the way of solving the mystery of why a thief is stealing KEY storylines from books like Alice and Wonderland, & Anna Karenina, Aladdin, MacBeth, and A Midsummer's Night Dream.
Will is also one of the alternative narrators of this story, along with a secretive back story that you will have to pay close attention to for fear of losing yourself in the brilliant twisted story. Will and Amy's relationship is one that is cold, then lukewarm, then warms up by the time the story reaches conclusion. Just the way I prefer my romances. I would hope that although this is apparently a standalone, and the first time being produced in English, that Glaser consider writing a sequel to the story. I think there is more than enough story ideas to make another book worthwhile, and entertaining.
OOh nice! I love the idea of this one! Because yeah, jumping into much loved books and playing the roles would be sooo cool! Glad to see it was an enjoyable read! Nice review!
ReplyDelete