I found this book neither extraordinary or disappointing. It was just OK. I really liked it at first, when the main character Leopold is drawn into a strange version of LA which resembles an obscure 90s fantasy TV show he was obsessed with. The book seemed quite long without any clear direction of plot. As with the Miss Peregrine series, I’m not inspired to read the rest, although if I had to choose, I’d read that series and not continue with Sunderworld.
The book follows 17-year-old Leopold as he starts to see weird things which leads him to Sunderworld, where he believes he is a chosen one with strong magical powers. He and his best friend Emmet are drawn into a quest, or an escape, or something (it wasn’t clear to me). I liked some of the details of Sunderworld, such as ‘focusers’ which are like cameras but which aid with casting spells. It’s YA fiction but the age of the characters and the frequency of swearing suggests this is the very top end of YA. The descriptions of the characters’ expressions was somewhat annoying, with a lot of narrowing and widening of eyes, glares, frowning, etc. Moreover, I know that Leopold is supposed to be a disappointment, but he wasn’t very appealing. Maybe I’m just not the right audience for the book, however I did enjoy the concept.
Published in 2024.