Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo

Great read. Can't wait for the next instalment. I hope it's as good as the first book and many more after that. Well done Mr Skye, brilliant job.

A friend of mine recommended me reading this book, and gave the highest praise for it. I immediately bought it and started reading. Within seconds I was hooked. Obert Skye has a way of making you fall in love with his characters and the world they live in. I was amazed by the strange creatures such as sycophants, lithens and nits. What I liked best about the book is the unlikeness of many things that happen and the humor that goes with it. Talking toothpicks and frozen classrooms. Let yourself be carried away by the strange adventure of Leven thumps and his friends. It really is a must read for children, teenagers or adults!

What?! was a common response when asked what the title of the book I was reading was, and to be honest when I saw it on the shelf I also thought the same. However I totally loved this book. The characters are believable and you really feel for Leven and Winter as their adventure begins. I loved Clover their cheeky little companion. Kids (and us grown ups) will love reading thyis book.... I know I can't wait to read the next installment. This is a great bedtime book for kids to read or to have read to them... and parents... when the children are asleep, grab a coffee and read it yourself!

I hate it when I dislike a book. I really don't like writing about how poorly written some books are. Because let's face it, I couldn't do any better. About. -inhales- Basically, A boy, Leven Thumps, is orphaned and raised in a home where he is not wanted, living a downtrodden life until, ta-da, things change (he learns he is can control the future, sometimes) and the universe depends on him. Winter, a girl with snarly hair (Hermione, anyone?), lives a similarly horrible life and must help him in his quest. Clover, a creature suspiciously house-elfish, is also assigned to Leven as he makes his way. Geth, a king trapped in the body of toothpick, was reminiscent of Dumbledore, guiding the group toward their "destiny". Destiny - to kill the bad guy who wants to break out of foo and control the world blah blah. Disliked! Firstly I found the book was basic. Especially after reading the plot (land of dreams etc)I expected a good interesting story, but it was extremely basic. (I know its a children's book but so was Harry Potter!) Looking back on the nearly 400-page book, the events spanned only a few days. Very little happened and it was highly redundant (i.e. repeating the protagonist's purpose, describing the same character each time it entered and re-entered the storyline, fighting the same villains, cycling the protagonist through the same emotion, etc.) And poor Levin, doesn't EVER seem to want to be a part of his own story (ran away a bit too many times which got a bit boring). I can understand, not wanting to save the world or take responsibility for having to be more than you are... but c'mon. Also there was not enough going on...no subplots, just a lot of description about how Foo works and what the characters are like, and a lot of waiting around for the action to start. I found myself skip a few chapters and even when I went back to the story I hadn't missed much. Contrasting the simplicity of the story, the author (inconsistently) used complex verbiage and obscure phrasing. There were words and phrases I had only heard a time or two ever and I had to stop and think what exactly the author meant and how it applied in that context. I can't imagine many children read the book and follow exactly what the author describes. The overall story is simple enough, but sentence by sentence is tedious in some portions - too simple or too complex. It was very strange. With fantasy you have to use your imagination but still you want a little help with description from the author.There were certain times in the story when you really had to stretch your imagination a bit too much and even then you had to say "what!?" I think one of the major problems is that the author bombards you with so many fictitious names and things that you've never heard of that you go into overload (without much description). You don't have time to accept this new aspect of the story before he throws a new one at you. There's also this really annoying toothpick in the story, (yes that's right, a walking talking toothpick!) who I really just wanted to break in half sometimes. Overall the Idea was promising (hence why I bought it) but it was very boring, strung out with weak characters and lack of a good convincing baddie(I like a good evil dude, voldermort hello?). I think this should of been a one book story instead of four, which isnt as half as interesting as the plot makes it sound but its all opinion at the end of the day =) I may be a bit to critical but i hate it when i don't enjoy a book, if a books great I think about it afterwards but with this one its like "hmm" - puts on bookshelf never to be thought of again- . Summary - Bad points (SPOILERS) - There's too much emphasis placed on "fate" in this book. (Clover the sycophant) - Sabine the bad dude is made out to be fairly evil throughout however when it came down to it he seemed to go down very easy to the point where it makes you think anyone could of bumped him off. -Ending very disappointing, I mean you make the effort to finish it and when they finally get to foo you get a couple of measly paragraphs on the place, makes you think why they ever wanted to get to this place in the first place. I would reccomend - The Hunger Games, The Looking Glass Wars trilogy (exspecially in light of the new Alice In Wonderland Movie) and Peter and the Starcatchers oh and the Hobbit.

My son (12) read the Fablehaven series which was a gift to him from his grandmother. He was writing book reports that made me decide to read the series. I thought, if nothing else, we will have something to talk about. The series was amazing (I can't wait for the last book) and he wouldn't stop reading! (Getting him to read is difficult.) After that, I had to find him another cool series to devour. I turned to Amazon and found the Leven Thumps as well as the Percy Jackson books. The Leven Thumps books are good, if I had to rate each series, I would rate the Percy Jackson books 1st, Fablehaven 2nd, and Leven Thumps 3rd. They are all very good, and I highly recommend them... to middle school as well as adults. My type of reading is John Sanford, Patricia Cornwell and Tammy Hoag. These books were a great vacation, and every time I picked them up felt as if I were transported to another world. Each series and book includes tremendous life lessons for both children and adults. Now, I just need to find that next great series... uh, just to get my son to keep reading.

Ich finde es prinzipiell ja richtig und wichtig auf Nachhaltigkeit zu achten, allerdings stellt sich mir schon die Frage ob es bei Büchern nicht doch sinnvoll wäre diese weiterhin in einer Schutzfolie zu versenden. Das Buch kam sehr schnell an, aber weist leider durch den Versand und eben fehlender Schutzfolie kleine Beschädigungen auf. Sieht dadurch aus wie gebraucht. Wäre es für mich persönlich...OK, aber es handelt sich dabei um ein Geschenk. Daher einen Stern Abzug.

I bought this as a bedtime story for my children (10 & 11), based on a number of reviews and favorite lists. We found it pretty disappointing. To be fair, we had just finished Watership Down, which both my children voted the best book ever. Other favorites were the Narnia series, The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quixote (in a children's version). The Artemis Fowl books are similar in theme, but a whole lot better written.

Get ready for a wild ride! This book is full of ups and downs and also strange happenings. I love it!

My 11-year-old daughter and I finished the paperback a few days ago and as I logged on to offer our two cents I was STUNNED to read the most recent reader review. Did we read the same book? Did he read the same book Publishers Weekly read? I thought Leven Thumps was captivating! It's the most imaginative premise I've read in years and I had no trouble, no trouble at all, suspending disbelief. And I have to wonder, if it's such "weak" writing, why did Simon and Schuster release the paperback version I just read? And now the second installment is already on shelves! Wouldn't we all like to be "weak" writers who have a fantasy series in every bookstore in America. "A fluke" my fannie, this is a terrific read. See for yourself! Time for me and my kid to fight over book two.