The Real Boy - BookWyrm

Hardcover, 348 pages

Published Sept. 23, 2013 by Walden Pond Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-201507-5

(2 reviews)

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy named Oscar. Oscar is a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the village, and spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar's world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.

But now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the forest will keep his island safe. Now even magic may not be enough to …

On an island on the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy named Oscar. Oscar is a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the village, and spends his days in a small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar's world is small, but he likes it that way. The real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in it.

But now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill, and something sinister lurks in the forest. Oscar has long been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge that the magic that flows from the forest will keep his island safe. Now even magic may not be enough to save it.

1 edition

G. Deyke reviewed The Real Boy by Anne Ursu

[Adapted from initial review on Goodreads.]

4 stars

Most everything I could say about The Real Boy has been said before, and better, by Corinne Duyvis here: disabilityinkidlit.com/2015/04/13/review-the-real-boy-by-anne-ursu/ . I agree with that review in its entirety.

I'll therefore focus only on my personal experiences in reading it. I found Oscar extremely relateable, which is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand: it's awesome to feel so seen by a book, and being able to relate so easily kicks the immersion factor way up. On the other: when Oscar can't deal with a situation I wouldn't be able to deal with either, that immersion turns vicious. One scene in particular, in which Oscar was put in charge of his master's shop with no training, was deeply uncomfortable to read, and threw my emotions so far out of whack that it took me a day or so to recover even after I'd stopped reading.

One other, extremely …

Most everything I could say about The Real Boy has been said before, and better, by Corinne Duyvis here: disabilityinkidlit.com/2015/04/13/review-the-real-boy-by-anne-ursu/ . I agree with that review in its entirety.

I'll therefore focus only on my personal experiences in reading it. I found Oscar extremely relateable, which is something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand: it's awesome to feel so seen by a book, and being able to relate so easily kicks the immersion factor way up. On the other: when Oscar can't deal with a situation I wouldn't be able to deal with either, that immersion turns vicious. One scene in particular, in which Oscar was put in charge of his master's shop with no training, was deeply uncomfortable to read, and threw my emotions so far out of whack that it took me a day or so to recover even after I'd stopped reading.

One other, extremely minor, quibble: the word "Latin" appears once in this book, and is the only indication that it is anything other than secondary-world fantasy. That word therefore felt very much out of place, and (very briefly) broke my immersion.

In general, a good book, and one I'd be happy to recommend.

Selling points: autistic protagonist; wizards; lots of cats; liveable world; immersion; relateable protagonist.

Warnings: see the spoiler-heavy section of Corinne Duyvis' review.

D C

rated it

Sept. 23, 2015