In “Farworld,” the new young adult fantasy novel, we meet Marcus Kanenas, a thirteen-year-old boy who was abandoned as an infant by parents who have never returned. His body is deformed and he spends his time in a wheelchair, although he can scoot around without it, when necessary, for short distances. He lives in a home for boys, and figures he’s pretty much stuck there forever, despite the fact that the other residents pick on him mercilessly.
When a strange man comes to the school and tells Marcus that he’s there to pick up him up and take him to his parents, Marcus smells a rat. He’s told that he was kidnapped and his parents have spent years trying to find him, but he’s seen this man in a dream, and he knows that he’s to be feared.
Meanwhile, in the land of Farworld, Kyja has gone to see her friend and teacher, Master Therapass. He can change himself into a wolf and possesses other wonderful powers that Kyja would like to learn, but she doesn’t have the ability to do magic, which is odd in Far World – everyone can do magic there. She feels like an outcast and hopes that with Master Therapass as her tutor, she’ll be able to find her hidden talent, but it’s been years and still nothing.
But while gazing into Master Therapass’s magic mirror, Kyja sees a boy who’s in serious trouble. Without fully realizing what she’s doing, she reaches out to him and pulls him into Far World, out of harm’s way, but out of his own familiar realm.
Thus begins this story of imagination, adventure and excitement. Marcus and Kyja leap back and forth between worlds, learning how to conquer their foes on either side, but when they learn that they must go on a quest in order to save Marcus’s life, it seems almost too great a task. Together, though, combining their strengths, they will succeed. I found myself cheering as our heroes learn that their talents are exactly what they need in order to fulfill the challenge that has been given to them.
This book will hit the shelves in September of this year, and it’s the first in a series produced by Shadow Mountain.
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