It is a pretty much note-perfect fantasy adventure for the eight or nine year old. And they're off, confronting a strange world that holds its own strange terrors. He doesn't go alone-Sonia, a girl whose been hanging around the Warden's keep for ages, trying to get through herself, convinces him to let her come with him. (It's nice that Rye's motivation is to find his brothers, whom he loves, not the usual honor and glory heroicness). The way out of Weld gives the traveller a choice of three doors-gold, silver, and wood-and Rye, trying to think which his oldest brother would choose, heads off through the golden door. In a nutshell, it involves Rye's two older brothers volunteering to go hunt skimmers outside the wall, and never coming back Rye (in good third brother style) going off to look for them. It's clear, though, that there is something outside the wall, a place where the fearsome Skimmers fly from each night, preying on the unlucky and the unwary (which is to say, eating them).Īnd there are those inside Weld who are getting tired of their Warden's impotence in the face of this danger:Īnd this graffiti-scrawled sign made me laugh out loud (I love this sign) and settle down to enjoy the story. But the space protected by the wall and its magic is the only world Rye and his brothers have ever known.
Not a big world.actually more like a densely packed settlement. Which is to say, I think it achieves what it set out do - it tells an entertaining story in a very appealing way. However, if you want said child to read independently (which so many of us do), you could do much worse than offer him or her The Golden Door. If you are looking for a book that will introduce your young reader (8 or so years old) to the delightful tropes of the Quest Fantasy, you can read The Hobbit out loud, which is a lovely thing to do. The Golden Door, by Emily Rodda (Scholastic Press, Octoin the US).
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