Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo-Obert Skye

	Title: Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo Author: Obert Skye Genre: Fantasy Pages: 359 Publication: Aladdin, 2005 Source: Own Rating:

“If you stand between two connecting lanes that don’t match up quite right, while the temperature is divisible by seven, and the universe sees fit to fire off a couple of shooting stars, you will get quite a surprise-quite a surprise indeed.”


Leven Thumps has the worst life imaginable. Orphaned at birth to be cared for by his cruel aunt Addy and her husband Terry, he endures ridicule and abuse at every turn. As bad as his life is, Winter Frore had an equally horrible one. Forced to eat a dozen peas every night with a crust of bread as her dinner, she deals with constant bullying at school from students and teachers alike. All that is about to change, though, when the shadows finally catch up to Leven and Winter turns her hair to ice. As they travel in search of a missing king, their strength begins to wane and self-doubt tightens its grip on their minds. With the destruction of Foo just around the corner, will they be strong enough to fight for the future of all mankind?

Obert Skye introduces the reader to Foo, a space somewhere between possible and impossible. Skye spins an imaginative tale filled with drama, humor and action in his breakout novel. No-nonsense in tone, Skye keeps the reader flipping pages with his lyrical-like prose. Slightly depressing at times, Skye lightens the mood with Clover, the child-like, candy loving sycophant from Foo, to never leave the reader feeling down for too long. His plot line was relatively simple in concept, but getting to the final destination was filled with various loops that kept the story relatively fresh.

I really looked forward to reading Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo from the moment I saw the cover. I expected an imaginative and uplifting adventure story to drag me out of my normality. It lived up to my expectations in some ways, surprised me in others, and disappointed at only one point throughout the novel. The story flowed smoothly and the transitions between characters were flawless. The downs in the novel were quickly evened out by the comedic ups, which kept me reading. There was only one point in the novel where I became frustrated and set it down for a couple days. Let me tell you though, if you find yourself doing this, push through, because within the next couple pages, Clover will pull you right back in. I soon found myself at the end of the novel reading the preview for the next book in the series wishing I already owned it. Overall, a great and easy read that keeps the imagination turning and the dreamers dreaming.