Terratorva

Terratorva
Laura Rotter
AuthorHouse, September 2009
ISBN 9781449030926
Trade Paperback

Three 12-year-old children, confined indoors because it’s a rainy day, discover that Dan’s cat, Wix, can talk.  Wix is a Rimor, sent from a world called Terratorva to explore other worlds in search of help.  Terratorva is suffering  from attacks of an evil race of creatures known as Extraxis.  These are similar to dragons and are determined to destroy Terratorva and rule it themselves. Wix tells the kids they are his world’s only hope and begs them to come to the rescue.

Stepping through a portal in Dan’s toy bucket, the three follow Wix and find themselves in a beautiful land.  Soon confronted by one of the frightening beasts but escaping his attack, they follow Wix to meet King Zera, learning that a particular crystal may hold the key to defeating the Extraxis.    Wix and the kids set out on a dangerous journey to the Northern Mountains in hopes of destroying the crystal and saving Terratorva from further death and destruction.

This is an entertaining little tale and, although there is no indication of the age group it was written for, I would say perhaps 7 to 8.  To my mind, there are a number of problems, all related to the physical product.  First, this is one of those 32-page square-shaped books that are usually aimed at the younger reader, about 4 or 5 or so, but the language of the story is far too advanced for them.  The book would be better suited to a digest format, what’s usually known as a chapter book.  The font used is much too fancy; I sometimes found it difficult to read and I think it would discourage many children.  The background of each page is decorative, adding to the distraction of the font, and such artistry should probably be limited to the first page of each chapter and perhaps the title page.  Bottom-line, I felt that the design of the book was aimed at adults, not at the children the story was written for.

Recommended with reservations.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, January 2010.

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