1.5/5 stars - I never write reviews, but I feel like I need to for this book...
First, the writing - While this is a middle grades book, that doesn't mean the writing has to be simplistic and juvenile, but it is. It reads more like a Magic Tree House book than a MG fantasy book. Despite the interesting premise, I found myself bored due to the amount of telling instead of showing. The characters were flat and poorly developed. The pacing was also odd, with the story dragging at points and going too quickly in others. Moments of action that should have been riveting were wrapped up too quickly and too cleanly. The big battle at the end with the primary villain is contained within one or two short chapters. The editing for the novel was poor, as well. Some of the passages felt jumbled, and the writing was oftentimes clunky. There are many errors in the novel that the editor(s) should have caught, such as “Walt chased after at it” and “We don't have time for a guilty conscious.”
Second, the characters - Walt is a small boy who feels unwanted pressure to be “manly” from his overbearing father. This is something that plagues Walt the entire novel. There is one moment near the end where he suddenly recalls his father telling him “you might look weak, but that doesn't mean you ARE weak” - and this is what causes him to magically get over being small. Sorry, I don't buy it! In general, Walt is a confusing character. He is constantly told by his father that he should be a man and not be emotional or cry, and (I assume as a result of this) Walt often swings wildly between being a relatively calm kid to having these furious outbursts that come on suddenly and disappear just as quickly. There's a good commentary here on how young boys - and men in general - shouldn't be forced to stifle their emotions and that it's okay to cry and be upset, but the author never makes this point. What are kids supposed to take away from the character of Walt? That it's not okay to cry? That being small makes you weak? These things never truly get resolved, and I worry about the message kids might take away from that.
Walt's attitude toward the landlady at the end when they return from Djaruba also leaves MUCH to be desired. She gave Walt a helpful tool and ensured his parents wouldn't notice the kids' absence, but upon their return, Walt has the audacity to ask her why she gave him “such a useless thing” simply because he didn't use it correctly. He also demands she undo the spell on their parents and “glared at her in a way that meant ‘I am waiting for you to do what you've been told'.” Excuuuse me? Main characters shouldn't be perfect, but there are zero consequences for his being so rude toward someone who helped him. Assertive and rude are not the same thing.
The father is overbearing and borderline emotionally/mentally abusive toward Walt and, it's implied, toward Walt's mother. At the end, Walt finally tells his dad he doesn't want to go to football camp because it isn't one of his interests, and his dad begrudgingly agrees - but it's with the caveat that maybe they can try football camp again next year. I'm not sure what message the author was trying to convey through the father figure in this novel, but I wasn't digging it.
Van was also a pretty flat character. Her entire personality was that she was a tomboy who refused to respect Walt's boundaries. She was mean to him (and other characters) pretty much the entire time, and she never seems to recognize it or apologize, even when other characters tell her they dislike the way she's treating them.
Uncertain what the point of Dylan was - he was pretty much a filler character whose sole interest was basketball. These kids would be in the middle of doing something dangerous, and Dylan would start pretend dribbling and shooting. Kind of weird.
I hope people who liked this novel are able to find joy in future installments, and maybe the author will use that space to explore Walt's mom's side of the family and their magic, because that seemed pretty interesting. Someone let me know!
