The Purloined Boy by Mortimus Clay

[description from amazon]

The Purloined Boy, by Mortimus Clay, is a work of fantasy literature for young adults. In parts dark and grotesque, in others luminous and inspiring; it could be described as R. L. Stine meets Plato. It begins with the question, Where do all those children on the milk cartons go? It provides the answer through the eyes of one of those children, a boy named Trevor Upjohn, the purloined boy. Trevor was stolen by a bogeyman as a toddler. But he can't remember that. And he's not the only one. Thousands of children just like him were stolen by bogeys and taken to Superbia, the worst place in the universe. There, the children are cared for by group of officious and unfeeling humans known as the Guardians. For what purpose you ask? A dark and sinister purpose: the most horrid one any could possibly imagine! Fortunately Trevor is not left to fend for himself. A conspiracy comes to his aid, a conspiracy made up of an old man with one good eye, a red-haired girl named Maggie, and a mysterious but very powerful mouse named Zephyr.

Review:

Despite the fact that this book really is not my thing at all- I'm not a big fantasy person, I don't like third person narrative very much, and I don't read very much middle grade-ish fiction- I enjoyed it, for the most part. I was never really enthralled by the story; I put it down easily and never had that "I NEED to find out what happens!" feeling, but I still enjoyed it. It definitely has an original premise, though I wished the world was explored more. I never felt like I knew exactly what the Guardians did or what Superbia even was, or what Trevor was supposed to do as "the purloined boy", but I don't know whether that is because I was reading too quickly or it was just not explained.

The plot is by far the best part of this novel, and not only because it's unique. The plot becomes more exciting as the book goes on, and there are plenty of odd things and interesting twists thrown in. It takes a while for the action to become more action and less mystery, but it's worth it in the end.

I think why I wasn't enthralled by the story because I never connected with the characters. I liked Maggie, but I didn't particularly care about the other characters. I usually have that problem with third person narrative books though. Aside from that, though, I don't feel like the characters were as developed as the could have been; they seem more like puppets in a game. Like they're just there going along with the action.

I did enjoy reading the book despite my problems with it, but if I was bigger on fantasy I may have enjoyed it more.

6.5-7ish/10

Links: Mortimus's website/Amazon

This review is a part of TLC Book Tours. (: