Thursday, December 15, 2016

Pales in Comparison to Other Books About Books: The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser

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I received this book for free from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Pales in Comparison to Other Books About Books: The Book Jumper by Mechthild GlaserThe Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser
Published by Feiwel & Friends on Jan 3rd, 2016
Genres: Adventure, YA
Source: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
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two-half-stars

Amy Lennox doesn't know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother's childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay.

Amy's grandmother, Lady Mairead, insists that Amy must read while she resides at Lennox House—but not in the usual way. It turns out that Amy is a book jumper, able to leap into a story and interact with the world inside. As thrilling as Amy's new power is, it also brings danger—someone is stealing from the books she visits, and that person may be after her life. Teaming up with fellow book jumper Will, Amy vows to get to the bottom of the thefts—at whatever the cost.

Man, I don’t even know about this book. I was so excited to dive in because BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS but also because I’ve enjoyed a lot of books by German authors that have been translated into English in my life time and I was ready to discover another author I could add to my favs. The Book Jumper is not by any means a terrible book but if you’re reading it because you love books about books, you are gonna be disappointed. The world building is severely lacking in this one and there were a lot of things I did not understand about the world in which this book was taking place in. It represents a world similar to ours except for this select group of (white) people that have the ability to jump into books. There is no real interaction with the ‘real world’ by these privileged few and there is no real discussion of how the muggles might be impacted by the disturbances in the bookish world.

I am a huge bookworm and the peeps in this book are always talking about how it is SO IMPORTANT to protect literature but there are no real reasons as to why. What happens when literature isn’t protected? Does the world go up in flames? Are they protecting literature or guarding the real world from literature? I have no idea. Just lots and lots of questions about the world.

Here is the thing, I’ve grown up on books like Inkheart. They are what my heart desires more than anything else so when I pick up a book about books/reading/libraries, I am ready to be emerged in a world that is every bookworm’s dream come true. This world didn’t feel like that. The Book Jumper pales in comparison to so many of the incredible books I’ve read that are about books or reading and I just wished The Book Jumper had spent some more time exploring its world and developing it. To be fair, a lot of books I am comparing TBJ too have been part of a series and can thus spend some more time on world building but the plot would have benefited so much in TBJ if the world building had been clearer. A lot of things would have been better about this book if the world building was better.

One of the other major problems I had was the lack of character development. The characters seem to exist as plot devices and a way to get things to happen and nothing about this book surprised me (except for one minor thing.) The book kind of revolves around the idea of ‘what if every bookworms dream came true?’ and explores it without actually exploring the idea.

There is also the bizarre ending that took some things too far in my humble opinion. (If you’ve read the book and felt similarly HMU because I have THINGS TO SAY.) There are also just other weird things in the book that seem a tad creepy IMO.

Like I said before though, The Book Jumper isn’t a bad book and I know it is one that people can and will fall in love with. I hope that someone will be able to find a new fav in it the way I wasn’t able to and can thus add an incredibly gorgeous-looking book into their collection! 

two-half-stars

2.5 Hot Espressos

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Rashika has been tired since 2013. There are very few things that spark joy for her besides a nice cup of tea, warm, baked goods, good books and good TV shows. She is here to pile onto your giant TBRs and to-watch lists. Offer her a cookie and she might be nice to you.

6 Responses to “Pales in Comparison to Other Books About Books: The Book Jumper by Mechthild Glaser”

  1. Jordan

    Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear this book was a bit of a disappointment! I had never heard of this book before seeing your review and the summary sounded really interesting, so I’m glad to see your review about what worked and what didn’t. I loved Inkheart so much, I definitely think it would be hard to read something that doesn’t quite live up to that general idea. Really great review!

  2. Jessa

    Oh no! I’ve been so excited for this book! I don’t want to hear that it doesn’t live up to expectations. That’s sad. I hope I enjoy it anyway…

  3. Valerie

    I really really want to know what went down now. ALSO YEAH my main interest in this was because of Inkheart. I loved Inkheart as a child, and I just reaaaaally don’t think this will live up to it. Nope. Maybe when I’m bored and have nothing better to do I will pick this up? But probably not. THANKS FOR THE REVIEW RASHIKA!

  4. Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight

    I know we have discussed this, so I don’t have a ton to add, only that I am writing my review now and I can’t say any of this better than you have! Because the stuff I want to complain about is too spoilery! But alas. Still wondering about gma 😉 But I think I liked it a tiny bit more than you did. Or maybe I just wanted to, who can tell? Like the idea was SO incredible but it did leave me wanting so much more. Le sigh. Great review, love!