Kindly sent to me by the author after a conversation started on LibraryThing about how to get your books "out there".

I've had a look at it and I think it might be a bit strong for me (I am notoriously pathetic when it comes to battles, wounds etc!) so I am offering it on a bookray unread...

From the back of the book:

"When two teenage boys, Tom Lewis and Jack Barton, climb the gigantic oak at the bottom of Tom's garden, they embark on a journey that takes them toward adulthood, a change embracing both enlightenment and loss.

Finding themselves in a dangerous, alien realm, where dreams and reality seem to interweave and deception is at the heart of everything, they come under the malevolent influence of a creature known as the White Wolf. What had begun as a childish adventure is in fact something far darker and deeper, for the Wolf is playing a momentous game, an arcane puzzle that must be resolved.

The boys walk a dark road of treachery and pain, love and lust, sacrifice and redemption. Friendship and loyalty are put to the test and corruption comes in many guises. Finally, truth can only be revealed through pain and forfeit. It is a journey into the heart of darkness where nothing and no-one are what they seem and the rules are the logic of a dream."

Book Ray!

This book is going on its travels! Please go by the basic rules or let me know if you have a delay or difficulty...

1. Journal the book when you receive it.
2. PM the next person and make a note that you've done so.
3. Read and review the book, preferably within 4 weeks of receiving it.
4. Mail the book to the next person. PLEASE put on a JE or release note when you've done this.

SHIPPING ORDER:

Caroley UK (anywhere)
Wichtelkoenigin Germany (anywhere)
DitteL Denmark (anywhere)
Mazzlestar UK (UK)
Wigglywoods UK <------- it's here!

As it's a bookray, this is now free to travel wherever it wants to go, once wigglywoods has finished it

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posting to Caroley today...

Received in the post today, thanks!

I'm reading a rather thick book at the moment but Magic Lands will be next to be read. I can't wait, actually. It looks just the type of book that I like.

Have PMd Wichtelkoenigin for an address.

Having just finished this, the first word that comes to mind is "Wow!"

The book starts out as a nice gentle story about two boys and gradually turns into a Good vs Evil story where you're often not quite sure what is real, what is illusion and what is a dream. It seemed to get darker and darker as it progressed and had an unexpected ending. I like that in a book!

The writing style was different to any I'd encountered before but I'm nowhere near clever enough to be able to categorise it. I'll just say that I liked it. It did take a couple of chapters before I really got drawn in, but that may be because I started it straight after finishing a book that I maybe needed to digest for a while first.

It'll be on it's way on Monday, if I can get to the post office.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to Germany via Airmail.

I have just collected the magic lands from the post office.

Thank you very much for letting me join and for sending it on!

Somehow I still think it's a miracle that books keep turning up at my front door.


I will travel by train a lot this weekend, so I'm going to get started with the book then.

And, last but not least, thx for the nice post card enclosed to the book.

PMed DitteL to ask for the next address.

"Wow, weird".
An unexpected ending indeed.

Lots of Christian symbolism, I haven't heard the words "love, faith and hope" repeated more often since I last was in a church, must be a while.
It's not fantasy in the way that it tells you a lot about dwarf tribes or elvish history or details about the sword of so-and-so, it's more of a mind trip.

It gets 8 out of 10 from me for being different.

I will send it to Denmark today.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book will travel towards its next station today. Have a good journey.

Arrived in the mail today. I've a couple of books which I must read before I start reading this one, but hopefully it won't take long before this book is ready to continue its journey.

Thanks for sending Wichtelkoenigin and thanks for sharing LyzzyBee

Finished reading this one last night, but decided to wait until today before I posted my comments as I needed time to figure out if there was anything at all that I liked about his book. Sadly I don't really think there was.

In my opinion the story was a mess. Don't get me wrong, dreams are wonderful, but the thing about dreams are that they only make sense while sleeping - trying to write them down afterwards isn't a good idea.

Futhermore, I felt like the author wanted to pay tribute to every single story he'd ever read and loved, and the easiest way to do that was apparently to create a world where no rules apply. In my mind it all ended up being rather confusing.

I would have given the book four stars - after all it was a brand new way to write a story about children entering another world, but I can only give it three because of the layout. I actually think the layout helped to confuse me as I kept reading the same sentence over and over again.

I really wanted to like this book, but I just didn't.

I've already got mazzlestar's address and will post the book within the next couple of days.

Happy reading.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On its way back home to the UK.

Eek, this book is huge! It's safe with me for now, anyway, and I'll get onto it ASAP.

Sorry I've had this so long! I did read it, and I thought it was really brilliant in places, but perhaps the author bit off more than he could chew with it? Good concepts and ideas but overdeveloped in places and underdeveloped in others. A bit difficult to get through at times.

Sending out on friday to WigglyWoods.

Received this morning - many thanks mazzlestar.