While on the way to a new home with his sister and father, teenager Will Lightfoot spots a roadside advertisement for an amusement park called the "Perilous Realm." His father refuses to stop, so at the first opportunity, Will takes off on his dad’s motorbike, only to wreck it fleeing from the police. He finds himself in the actual Perilous Realm — not a parc but a “shifting place that endlessly reshapes itself, like stories in the retelling.” Will’s search for the parc exit leads him to a mysterious tree with mirriors - and thats where the trouble begins.Will is befriended by many strange people and creatures — including Rowen, a girl with a special destiny of her own, and Shade, an unusual wolf — but he is also pursued by dark forces under the control of Malabron, otherwise known as the Night King, the Master of Fetches, and the Storyeater. As Will’s path crosses those of the inhabitants — both innocent and malevolent — of this strange new world, his choices will determine not only his own fate, but that of his new friends in the Perilous Realm. This is a finding-oneself sort of book, where a young person runs off and ends up in another world and has to find their way home which they realize is where they wanted to be all along. Except its quite well done. First, although it doesn't lie about being part of a trilogy, the book has an ending that doesn't leave you hanging (or irritated because now you have to read the next one and it wasn't that good). I'm looking forward to the next one and like that I don't HAVE to read it. Second, fairy tale incorporation...quite nice. And the young man realizes he wants to go home, but also that he wants to stay too - and feeling both ways is okay. It was one of the better done of its kind.
What do You think about The Shadow Of Malabron (2008)?
I never really cared for the characters, but otherwise this is a fun fantasy.
—jajagirl101
I really liked this book and can't wait for the other two to come out.
—nick
