Fathom Five: The Unwritten Books

Peter McAllister has a good life. So what if his best friend, Rosemary, is a girl. But underneath it all, Peter has a lonely life. His parents are dead and he lives with an absent uncle. Then a mysterious woman named Fiona shows up. She tells Peter he is a changeling-a siren child left to live in the human world-and now it's time for him to return. Rosemary thinks differently. Can Rosemary convince Peter that Fiona is lying? Or is it possible she might be telling the truth? After a choppy beginning, I was able to really get into this story. Peter longs to have a real family, something Fiona promises. The author does a good job showing the conflict between Peter on whether he should leave Rosemary and his life or follow Fiona. I also like how Rosemary has courage to stand up for what she knows to be true. This is a fast-paced read that will swept the readers away into the mysterious world of sirens.

Rosemary and Peter have returned in this stand alone sequel to The Unwritten Girl. It's a few years later, and Rosemary and Peter are best friends and virtually inseparable. Almost. When Peter tries to move things beyond friendship, Rosemary gets scared and runs away. Alone and feeling vulnerable, a vision from Peter's past is able to convince him that he doesn't belong in this world. Rosemary alone can return him to his true home, and help him find his real place. Before she has a chance to decide if she's ready to step beyond their friendship, Peter has disappeared into the mist. Rosemary must, once again, travel to a strange world. A world full of unbelievable obstacles and extremely dangerous inhabitants. Only Rosemary can see them for who they are, and that makes them like her even less. Not only must she convince Peter that he's in the wrong place, and that she needs him (which involves figuring out her true feelings for him), she'll have to do it all in a very short period of time. Plus, she'll have to sneak in, since she's been banished and faces death if she's caught. James Bow is rapidly becoming one of my favorite authors. While part of me misses the time with Rosemary and Peter between the two books, it's really just because I like the characters so very much! The jump in time is done so well that you, as the reader, don't really question it. And the characters themselves are precisely where I would have imagined them a few years later. Okay, maybe not "precisely," what with the crazy land-in-the-mist thing. I'm going to stop rambling and just tell you that this is a really, really good book. It's part adventure, part fantasy, part love story (without being too mushy), and you should definitely read it! Reviewed by: Carrie Spellman