Brave Story

This story (translated from the Japanese) is like two stories mashed together. It begins in the real world with a young boy (age 11) named Wataru. There's some strange goings-on in a half-built house in his neighborhood (and it's pretty interesting). But then that bit gets overshadowed by Wataru's disintegrating family. Wataru wants to fix things and thinks he'll get a chance by fulfilling a mission into another world called Vision. Brave Story is fat, heavy, 800-page book and Wataru's entrance into Vision happens around page 220. Unfortunately, this is where things begin to bog down. I was non-plussed to realize that Vision was modeled after a Role Playing Game (RPG), something Wataru himself is crazy about. But I kept going. Somewhat interesting developments become less interesting. By page 380 I was completely bored with the story. I was bummed that I'd invested so much time into this story but after reading some of the less favorable comments from customers on Amazon, I now have Serious Doubts that persevering will pay off. So I'm not.