The Adventures Of Charley Tooth

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: Despite an awkward beginning and an awkward ending, "The Adventures of Charley Tooth" manages to create a fun plot with engaging characters. The read was fun and at the sale cost was worth the price of admission.

The three star rating is a combination of several features. One star was subtracted for the above-mentioned beginning and end, and the other taken away for some general writing development problems.

For the first half or so of the book the story developes at a certain pace which works well. Then all of a sudden it starts to steamroll through certain features which the reader really needs to know about the characters. For instance, the major thrust of the book is that Charley comes from a non-magical world and is suddenly in a world where magic is relatively commonplace (kind of like how plumbers are common to us... not everyone is a plumberer, but we all know one or two.) He obviously has some natural talent and is taught by a knowledgable magician so that he can overthrow the government. The whole key to the story is that Charley has to be adept enough to be able to overthrow the two great sorcerers of the land... yet Richards only touches on Charley's education briefly... almost as a sidenote.

My favorite books are more character driven than plot driven, and it's with his characters that Richards manages to make Charley Tooth an interesting read. While I loathe the literary term "flashback" I like the concept when it is in place to strengthen character (plot flashbacks are completely advoidable and SHOULD be advoided when possible... and are mostly advoided here)... like when Charley is riding in a carriage after their revolution collapsed and he should be thinking about his lover, instead thinks about his family and the last times he had with them. Not only are the scenes touching, but really paint his character as having grown beyond his years.

The ending is... bad. And the only excuse for doing that is if Richards intends to make Charley Tooth into a series and continue it beyond this one book.

All in all, however, I think it's a worthwhile read if the book can be gotten at the library. Just don't expect literary genious.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchhiker's Guide + Harry Potter = Charley Tooth
Review: Equal parts "Hitchhiker's Guide" and "Harry Potter", "Charley Tooth" provides the same humor, warmth, and wonderful characters that longtime fans of Adams and Rowling have come to love.

The humor operates on multiple levels, suitable for both young and old. A list of the characters' names alone would make for hysterical reading.

Hopefully the first in a long, long series, this whirlwind tour through Charley Tooth's world isn't nearly enough to satisfy. Here's hoping we see more of him, and soon.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Warm and Smart
Review: From the first "where-am-I-who-are-these-um-well-people-I-guess-what-do-I-do-now?" moment, The Adventures of Charley Tooth puts the reader entirely on the side of Charley, a high school student from Connecticut, as he tries to figure out what is normal, what is malignantly abnormal, and what is just silly in a strange new world.

Author Richards has a light touch and the book is full of funny moments. But don't be lulled into thinking the book is madcap escapism. Unlike so much writing that uses a fantastic setting to give its young readers a reason to dream they are someone else, somewhere else, Charley Tooth finds its hero relying on what he's learned as a 16-year-old on Earth to make sense of what's going on around him and to get out of some scrapes.

Indeed, one of the many wonderful things about the book is the matter-of-fact tone around things such as magic and lizards that can talk. The way they're presented here, they seem so much more, well, possible than they do in much other young adult fiction.

Readers of all ages will enjoy this tightly structured, fast-paced, and above all, smart book, and will reluctantly put it down with grins on their faces.

Rating:
Summary: Charley Tooth was the most entertaining book I read all year
Review: Going into reading The Adventures of Charley Tooth, I wasn't sure what to expect, and if I should lower my expectation because it is apparently geared toward a younger audience than my aged self. After reading the first few pages, I knew what to expect. It opens like an intergalactic Great Gatsby where we are guided through a uniquely fantastic world by a writing style that is clever and endearing. No adjective is safe as Richards unveils a world, through a teenager's eyes, that can only be compared to the refreshing oddity of the cantina scene in Star Wars.

The only criticism would be of the break in pace as the plot quickens in the last third of the story. Charley's hilarious and touching reflections on his old life seem to go on hiatus, as we get pulled through the seriously developing storyline. All told, though, the mechanics of the alien world and its magic are consistent and the story is engaging.

The book is, as others mentioned, appropriate for all ages because it operates on multiple levels. It's a quick, fun read and the enjoyable writing style alone merits picking up Charley Tooth.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for young (or older) adults!
Review: The Adventures of Charley Tooth is really funny. It's really clever and it's really captivating. I didn't want to put it down. This is supposed to be a book for young adults but I'm not so young and I thought it was AMAZING! Charley Tooth's adventures take us into a cool new world called Nivalg, where anything and everything is possible. The writing is superb, hilarious and endearing. It's like the classic, "A Wrinkle in Time" mixed with "The Phantom Tollbooth", a little "The Great Gatsby" and a touch of Charles Dickens.

Young adults will love it now and grow to appreciate it more as they age. Older adults will treasure it the moment they read it.

Three cheers for Charley Tooth!

Rating:
Summary: Odd...
Review: What an odd book. It goes on for over seventy pages about the events of only an hour or two. It meanders needlessly. It discusses in detail every single thought that pops into each character's head, and philosophises about it. But at least its funny. When reading it, I couldn't decide whether Richards is a horrible writer or an innovative comic genious.

Don't read this book unless you have a lot of patience.