Oh, how I wanted to love this book! As a John Barrowman fan, I am well aware of how talented the man is. I really wanted that talent to carry over into his first children's novel. Not only was it getting good press, but he wrote it with his sister which is quite endearing.
I did not love this book. I liked a lot of it. I did not hate it. I also did not love it. The story is interesting enough. Twins Matt and Em discover that their ability to animate artwork that they create is due to their heritage as Animare. As mentioned in their abilities, Animare...animate their artwork. They are also naturally talented artists and many famous names in art history have been Animare. Van gough, for instance, was an Animare. However, these abilities come with a price.
Sometimes Animare become power hungry or warped by their art. When this happens, a council of people called Guardians, who have powers meant to keep Animare in check bind the offender to one of their art works. When the story opens, Matt and Em are on the Guardian hit list. We discover that their mother, another Animare, broke a rule of the council by having children with a Guardian, giving the twins abilities of both.
Furthermore, there is chatter of the return of a sinister group called, "The Hollow Earth Society", which believes that creatures created in the artwork of the Animare lives within the Earth wrapped up in another dimension. Anyway, Sandie, the mother of the twins spirits them away to an island in Scottland, where their Guardian Grandfather can protect them from those who wish to harm them. Mayhem ensues.
While there is some real inventive qualities of this story, the major problems I had with it were in pacing, language and characterization. Until the very end, the story seems to lag far more than it should. Part of this I attribute to my second problem with the book. Language. Most of the action reads like directions. We are told what the twins and their friends do and how they feel, but nothing in the language gives a sense of realism. The phrase, "show, don't tell" rang in my ears throughout a majority of the action.
Last, characterization. The twins, who are supposed to be nearly 13, behave as if they are a good three years young. I simply could not get a good sense of who they are through their words and actions. I barely bought their affection for their mother, grandfather or even for one another. I read the words, yes, but the emotion behind them felt flimsy.
Still, I would not write this off as a total loss. As mentioned, the premise is interesting enough. Also, the chapters are short, making this a good choice for fantasy fans intimidated by long winded prose. Hopefully the Barrowman siblings are simply cutting their teeth here and will follow up this work with a sequel worthy of their talent. Maybe that is just a fan's wishful thinking
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