Up, Back & Away by K. Velk

I have to admit I dickered about purchasing this book but the numerous 4 and 5 star reviews made my mind up for me.  I really wish that I had let my indecision take centre stage and not purchased it.  I am never knowingly defeated by a book but I came really close to giving up on this one.  I even commented to my other half last night that if it had been free I would just give up on it as I was not enjoying it.

The biggest problem with it is not that it is authored for children, I have read a lot of books aimed at that market as the realms created are often far superior to those in adult literature as they feed in to an imagination unfettered by the mundanity of modern life.  It is simply that there is no appreciable tension in the plot or the text.  Whilst Miles continually tells us that he is  on the look out for "The Girl" and that he has no idea what the "secret that was not meant to be" is or how he is going to find out never did I feel a sense of urgency for garnering this information.  You would have thought that a boy from 2012 America going to 1928 England would stick out like a sore thumb.  However, the inhabitants of Tipton must be very simple folk as his thin back story is never put in to question.  Even the awful Mrs Grimwald seems to take it at face value.

I also found the characters to have little in the way of depth or interest.  Even our protagonist, Miles, has very little to him that you can hook onto and become interested in.  Perhaps the nearest we get to a real feeling character is Susannah but she only appears fleetingly. 

The writing I found to be a little ploddy and not really designed to hold interest.  You know it's not great when daytime television is a welcome distraction.  I did appreciate that although this is an out and out fantasy tale that the author did manage to keep the "mystical" elements of it rather grounded and the decision to link them with folklore was an interesting one and a good way to bring in characters that could assist Miles.

Sadly this was not the book for me and I am just relieved that it is now completed and I can move on to the next one that will, hopefully, entertain me more.