~Clever Characters~Lively Language

The first thing I noticed and fell in love with when I picked up Landon Snow and the Auctor's Riddle, was the cover. This little hardback book, written by R.K. Mortenson, has a cover that screams, "Pick me up and read me if you are looking for fun and mystery." The spine and edges of the book look faded and worn, while the front face is made to look like an old book covered in embossed leather and held closed with a brass clasp. This cover is designed to make the reader feel like he's stumbled onto some secret volume of great antiquity. On that front face, as if it were a photo inserted into an album cover, and spilling over the edges a bit, is a bright picture of a boy who is obviously falling into a great adventure. I found it very appealing.

Flipping open the pages proves that the inside was planned as well as the outside. Thick, creamy pages, with brown font and small brown illustrations at the start of the chapters, continue what the cover starts. They imply that this is no ordinary book. This is an old, rare book, full of treasures waiting to be discovered.

But we all know we aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. If the story is no good, it doesn't matter how prettily you dress it up. So on to the story.

The book opens with Landon Snow, a day away from turning eleven, heading for a birthday party at his grandparents' house in Button Up, Minnesota. I liked the characters right away. Landon, the lover of words and books who wants to figure out the reason behind everything, his ten-year-old sister, Holly, who likes numbers, and even little Bridget who sleeps the car ride away. The family members were well drawn. They were unique and I liked the interaction they had with one another. When the family arrives at the Grandparents' house, we have a snapshot of a happy, Christian family. So where is the conflict?

In the first chapter, I didn't find conflict but I found mystery. The town of Button Up, the library Landon loves, the strange Bartholomew G. Benneford, who is buried in the library--all of these things kept the pages moving for me. I wanted to find out what would happen to the bright, young Landon in that big old library.

And much does happen to him. He is swallowed by a book and falls into a land of riddles, peopled by interesting characters. My favorite characters were Melech, who tries to warn the young, headstrong Landon, and who suffers for Landon's rashness, the dear Tardy Hardy who's not as dumb as he looks, and the sweet Ditty. All of the odds, were interesting, really, and Ludo was wonderfully drawn if not exactly likeable.

Though Mr. Mortenson did a superb job fleshing out his characters, what I love best about the book is the language. When I read the book, my feeling was, "Now here is a guy who is having fun writing this book." There is nothing better than a book the author enjoyed writing. Here's one random example of great, fun, writing:

The little man came to life like an automaton, rocking rhythmically back and forth as a series of clicks and clacks and zippety zaps sounded from above the block.

This is good stuff.

The description of action was also clear and clever. Landon slides "on his pajamas like a human torpedo." I could picture him on the glossy chessboard as if he were on a freshly zambonied ice rink.

I wish I'd underlined more of the great metaphors and similes Mortenson used, but alas, I did not. There were several really fresh and perfect similes, but I was having too much fun reading to slow up and jot them down.

I do have a couple of complaints about the book, though. There were early patches I found bothersome. After the initial pleasing chapters, I thought the chapter where Landon went alone into the tunnel was unrealistic. My son would never have gone into that tunnel without making his sister come along to hold the flashlight. Landon thinks of asking his dad and grandpa, but it never occurs to him to ask Holly. He figures he's the man of the house and he must investigate. Pretty brave, but I wasn't convinced that any kid, even a kid who has to know the reason for things, would really go into that dark hole alone.

Once in the library, I ran into the same nagging feeling when Landon started climbing the book. I wasn't convinced by his reasoning. So a lack of proper motivation was a problem for me early on.

My second complaint is that during the time Landon was alone, the story felt slow to me. I was learning new things, like where the tunnel led and part one of the riddle and that there are books in the Button Up Library that have strange powers, and I should have been more interested than I was. I didn't reach a high level of interest until Landon met up with Melech. I believe it was the interaction between the two of them that made me really like Landon and care about what happened to him.

So the book started for me at a three plus--fine writing, interesting characters, with a great cover and delightful artwork. It dropped toward a three minus where I lost interest but then the last half was so enjoyable that I had to give it a four. If there had been no lag early on, I'd have given it a five. The whole package is excellently done--clever characters, witty writing, and a satisfying adventure in the end. I eagerly await future volumes with these delightful characters.

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Copyright © 2005 Sally Apokedak