The Divide
Book 1 Divide Trilogy
What's the Story?
13 year old Felix is vacationing in Costa Rica. It's an important trip for he and his parents because Felix has a rare heart condition and it's likely he won't see his 14th birthday.
On a hike up to the Great Divide, Felix suddenly feels light headed and faints. When he wakes up, he's no longer in Costa Rica. He has traveled to a place where magic is real and humans are imaginary, a place populated with winged Brazzles, magical Brittlehorns, Tanglefolk both good and evil and many other magical creatures both familiar and unimagined.
Under different circumstances, who knows how long Felix would want to stay in an incredible place like this, but his illness continues to advance and he just wants to go home. He wants to sleep in his own bed, he wants to let his parents know he didn't just disappear into the jungles of Costa Rica, and he holds the secret wish that a last minute cure could be waiting for him back where he came from.
In a place where humans and science are both imaginary, Felix begins a difficult journey to find a way back home and time is not on his side.
What Do I Think?
I don't know why but nothing seems to make teachers, librarians, book critics and other book professionals happier than a really sad death in a book. If you don't believe me, take a look at any "official" summer reading list for kids and you'll find books about death are 50 to 60% of the list. The other 40% are stories about the Civil War, the Great Depression or smallpox. Since I'm not the kind of reader that goes around looking for sad stories with people dying, especially kids, I wasn't so sure I wanted to read about a 13 year old kid with a congenital heart condition.
Even though I hate spoilers, I dislike wondering if a character who is terminally ill is going to die, so I'm going to tell you right now...he doesn't. Pessimist that I am, I tip-toed through this book waiting for the minefield. Was this Felix's first stop on the way to his afterlife? Was it a dreamworld as he lay in a coma? Was he going to sacrifice himself in order to save a world? I was prepared for the worst; a bittersweet story with a sad ending. Instead I found a funny story with a cliffhanger ending.
Elizabeth Kay has built a wonderfully sideways magical society filled with whimsical contradictions. Felix and the creatures he encounter understand each other and speak the same language except for the words used to describe animals and magical beings. (There's a one page guide at the beginning of the book to help you with the "Tangle" vocabulary, which I referred to often) It's a world where wearing cosmetics has become important yet no one has a concept of farming. A place where flying on the backs of dragons is common but a ballpoint pen is an object of wonder. The world of the Tangles is fascinating and full of twists.
Now just because I told you that Felix doesn't die, it doesn't mean there's no death in the book. Death is a recurring theme here. Characters do die, Felix's thoughts occasionally turn to his own death and there's even a discussion of death as part of the food chain, but it's thought provoking not gratuitous or gross. What surprised me the most about the book is it's approach to humor. I expected the funny parts to be on the dark side but they aren't. Kay keeps the story light with funny situations and almost absurd coincidences that keep the characters comically dodging and weaving in and out of the numerous story lines which do tie up nicely by the end.
The Divide is both a serious and a funny story within a magical world with an inventive vocabulary. The characters are well defined with individual voices, though a few (The Cajun Shreddermouths for instance) border on stereotypes. Felix's illness gives him a vulnerability but Kay never makes him a victim. Death is one of many themes, along with perseverance, friendship and the stupidity of short term profit before long term growth. Since the Divide is the first book in a trilogy, I didn't mind the ending which sets up things for a second book. I haven't read the other two books yet, but I'm now on the lookout for them. I'm looking forward to more time with Felix and friends...Unless Felix dies. If that happens, I'll sit in a dark room with an industrial sized tub of Rocky Road and a spoon and eat until the pain goes away.
Chapter by chap plz
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