I will warn you ahead of time that this is book one to a series.
The pacing to the book is a little different. It’s the story of a young, sheltered boy who goes to live on a farm after his parents have been kidnapped. You with quite a bit of scenes of lazing around the farm slowly at the beginning, including pick-up baseball games in the middle of fields. Then you jump to cold arms reaching out of the wall grabbing at people.
That was what caught my attention. The start was awkward and I personally could have done away with it. There’s one piece of dialogue between Henry and his uncle, where his uncle is very nonchalant/aloof to Henry’s troubles. It’s like he says, “Meh. Your parents are being held in South America. Whatever.”
But some of the awkwardness adds to the quirky tone of the book. Things like the protagonists being named Henry and Henrietta living in the town of Henry.
Once the plaster is off the wall, though, it’s a very enjoyable tale of tracking down an ancient evil that has been released through different worlds with some fun literary references.
Final verdict: Stick with it because the second half of the book is worth your time investment.
