THE WORLD OF ELDATERRA

This atmospheric high fantasy about two worlds and two time periods stumbles on thick, flowery language and sketchy metaphysics. In 1910, 14-year-old James discovers a Sea Arch on England’s coast and walks through it into a world of danger and magic. His adventures connect to a parallel storyline back in 1895 about gory serial murders and nonhuman fetuses. Eldaterra, the alternate world, is under threat from evil forces. James is crucial to its survival, but key philosophical points—Eldaterra has “fate,” the new world has “will”; people there are “either good or evil”—are never solidified. Events feel convenient, actions too easy. Powers of evil are broadly dispersed, precluding narrative focus. A group of characters in both worlds and times defeats the enemy (temporarily), but the enemy is actually defeated by its own confusion and lack of core, much like the story. Too scattered and verbose for a quality gothic. (maps, list of characters, historical note) (Fantasy. 10-13)