Official Review: The Leaping Lepre of Letterfrack

[Cher+Pot]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Leaping Lepre of Letterfrack" by Julianna and Christopher Goodrum.]

Julianna and Christopher Goodrum’s The Leaping Lepre of Letterfrack should rather be classified as a teen fiction novel than a young adult novel. It is more suited for readers between the ages of ten to fifteen than fifteen and up. The novel can also be enjoyed by newbie fiction readers, but I would not recommend it to diehard fiction and fantasy readers. It would just frustrate them, but more on this later.

The novel introduces us to Séamus Ward, the storyteller and protagonist. He is a thirteen year old boy; living in the magical village of Letterfrack. Letterfrack’s people are known as the Lepre and are in a fragile peace with the Caughn clan. Peace has reigned between the two clans for a thousand years, due to a charmed and powerful artefact, the Airgead. The Airgead is shared between the clans; passed over from one clan to another at a great and bountiful feast known as “The Joining of the Clans,” but during the current year’s passover, the valuable artefact is missing, leaving behind distrust and suspicion between the two clans and a promise of war. It is up to the Leaping Lepre, the Lone Archer and Séamus to find the Airgead, bring it home and with it, peace to the clans.

The plot of the story has great promise and was the reason I chose to review this book, but after finishing it, I was disappointed in the adventures and ending. There is little of the magical world of the Lepre and Caugh clans explained and few instances where the characters make use of their magic to get out of difficult situations. In my opinion the authors created this wonderful world, but didn’t use it to its full potential. I felt compelled to “overuse” my imagination at certain parts of the book, just to get through some of the pages.

The ending was not necessarily predictable, but more coincidental in getting the characters out of trouble and this frustrated me. The reader does feel distanced from the story; feeling the whole time like a reader and never apart of the story.

The characters are two dimensional and under developed. In my opinion the storyteller, Séamus, could have been left out of the novel and the story wouldn’t have changed at all. The author did create dialogue that reminds of a normal family setting and everyday banter between friends, but it frustrates the reader that the characters are not given more colour, background stories and personality. Grammatically, the book is well written overall, but there are a few minor spelling mistakes and two sentences, in particular, should be restructured.

The book is not what I expected it to be. I wanted a bigger look into the lives of the Lepre and their magical world and creatures. Therefore I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. I would not recommend this to hard-core fantasy readers, but if you are new to the genre or perhaps just want a quick fantasy fix and you can overlook the two dimensional characters; you might enjoy the story. The author is still young and if she can create three dimensional characters in her next story, I can see her becoming a great fantasy writer. Especially if she keeps on giving credit to Dr Who… . Allons-y!

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The Leaping Lepre of Letterfrack
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[gali]

Nice review, but the book isn't my cup of tea.

[LivreAmour217]

Great review! It's a shame about the lack of depth, because the story does sound very promising.