The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

Genre: Fantasy/Horror

Publishing year: 2010

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly. The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner. When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury. There is war in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys. Conner is there, too. But he’s trying to kill them. Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and afraid he’s losing his mind. Conner tells Jack it’s going to be okay. But it’s not.

Review:

At first, it was hard for me to get into this book. I found the story concept interesting and I admired the realistic portrayal of teenage boys. I can’t pinpoint any one thing about the story that prevented me from fully engaging in it. It leapt right into the action with a party and the kidnapping and the rest of the story flowed from there. Whatever the cause, it took me until I was midway through the book before it successfully reeled me in. That may sound like a criticism, but from that point on, it was as if I had looked into the Marbury lens myself.

I enjoyed Jack’s viewpoint mostly because it was so different from my own. His constant use of profanity was jarring and just his overall behavior pattern seemed off to me. This shows a talented author. So many times I’ll talk to someone who has just finished a book and they usually comment on how easily they were able to sympathize with a character or even put themselves in that character’s fictional shoes. I’m not saying it’s bad, I could name hundreds of books with which I’ve had that same experience. What I really like is to be knocked off kilter, and that’s exactly what Smith accomplished here. Two thumbs way, way up!

My favorite character in this tale, unlike most other books where I favor the main protagonists, was Seth. The ghost whose story is told bit by bit throughout the story. What resonated so deeply with me was when Seth gave Hannah the wooden horse as a present and as she fiddled with it, I realized it was the same sound Seth made whenever he wanted to contact Jack. 

Roll. Tap. Tap. Tap. These are also the four words printed on a page, before even the title or copyright pages. This might be the best reason I gave this book a perfect rating. Everything ties in perfectly together. Even something as simple as a repetitive noise has deeper meaning.

Immediately after finishing this book, I had two thoughts. One: Damn that was an awesome standalone, it raises so many questions, but it comes full circle and leaves you with a feeling of completeness. Two: Wait; it is a standalone isn’t it?  Never have I been so glad to be wrong. The sequel, Passenger, came out in October 2012 and now I just need to hunt down a copy so I can find out what happens next to Connor and Jack. And then of course review it here.

On a side note I am adding this blog to the Technorati directory and needed to have this short code 5RB2Q32QWUBF in a blog post. Once it's verified I'll remove it.