A Window in the Earth

Matthew Fish has written a lovely book that is filled with gorgeous images based on a fascinating concept, his "Window in the Earth." The characters, Christopher, his brother James, and their new friend Kylie are very realistic and well-developed, and what happens to them unfolds in a completely believable way.

The elements of fantasy are introduced during the night time and the characters' excursion to a cave. Again, the fantasy is handled in a very organic manner, and I had no problem imagining Christopher, Kylie and James discovering the "Window."

The greatest strength of this book is how visual it is. I"m a big admirer of Miyazaki films, and I could picture an anime rendering of the story, using the natural, fantastic settings and likable characters that Mr. Fish has created.

I came upon this book after Amazon was giving away it's sequel for free. Reading the books out of order was a bit jarring but I am glad that I came and picked this one up. When I was younger I grew up in the Ozarks and can relate to the beauty that is exemplified in this novel and the appreciation for the geographical region this novel takes place in. I call this story a 'modern day classic' for a few simple reasons:

The characters are believable, young teens dealing with the grief of the loss of their parents, another from a broken home, and a widowed grandfather war veteran.

The setting is perfect for me, a take on the familiar fish out of water.

Finally, the concept. This 'Window in the Earth' is one of the most intriguing ideas I have ever read about. I have lived a long, full life filled with wonderful memories and the idea that one might get the chance to relive these is a unique concept. This window is handle in such a delicate and natural way that shows that this idea was executed with such care. The overall story is one that I found very moving, nostalgic, at times sad, but in the end beautiful. It could have been very easy to mess up this idea had it not been handled with such care and to that I give this book five stars.

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This book was just OK in my opinion. It does have some interesting character development and not bad writing. It's very much from an adolescent's viewpoint so might appeal more to younger writers.

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"A Window In The Earth" is a refreshing work of fiction. The characters are multidimensional and evolve as the story progresses. What an interesting story line...in a day when many books take predictable turns, this one keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. A story filled with adventures and wonder as the main characters explore the local countryside in search of answers to a local mystery. What they find answers more than they could have imagined...stretching the boundaries of all that they thought was possible. A thoroughly enjoyable read!!

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I'm amazed at how many reviews said this book was well written. If by well written they meant a well thought out plot, good pacing and pretty good character development then yes, I would agree. It feels like a beginner's novel but one, based on that criteria, that would convince me to read another book by the author.

But the book is also full of the kind of mistakes one finds in many low cost Kindle editions. Mistakes that could easily have been fixed by a little editing of the grammatical kind. Example: "...grateful for all that he had done for he and his brother". Need I add that it should have been 'him and his brother'? Lots of mistakes like that as well as sentences with missing words or words in the wrong place that stop the reading flow.

And stylistically, the author ping pongs back and forth from a light contemporary style for a young adult audience to sentences that read like they were copied from 19th century novels. Flowery passages or just lists of emotions that the characters were feeling instead of giving a picture of how these emotions came to be or were expresesed. This too could have been solved with good editing, of the kind where the writer gets some guidance in their choice of sentences and style. The book was all over the place.

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