Between Two Ends
Yeats knows that something is deeply wrong with his father, William. He visits his grandmother’s spooky house and inadvertently reunites two pirate-shaped bookends with the ability to grant wishes. However, their magic only extends to books. Yeats discovers that William’s malaise began when he was trapped in the story of The Arabian Nights twenty years before. William barely escaped, but he had to abandon his friend, Shari. To save his father, Yeats returns to the story to rescue his father’s childhood friend, now known as Shaharazad.
Ward’s story is fun fantasy, rich in atmosphere out of The Arabian Nights. The action is constant and full of physical details that keep the reader right there with Yeats. The prologue is effective, and the plot holds together nicely. The interaction between Shaharazad and Yeats is charming and believable in a storybook kind of way. Yeats’ character felt very wooden until Yeats took control of his own story. Readers who enjoyed The Chronicles of Narnia and Inkspell will enjoy Between Two Ends.
