A Wonderful, New Fantasy World and Idea
It takes place in the year 1750, but that doesn't mean it feels overly historic. Modern day kids will have no trouble slipping into the story and will feel right at home. The main character, Joey, and his best friend, Ben, are fun boys, who are easy to like and sympathize with. Their decisions and actions are realistic and completely understandable. I had no trouble sticking to them to the very end.
The author does a fantastic job describing the fantasy world, a parallel world by the name of Land of Lights. This is the place where ideas are mined—squirts (the small ones) and gushers (the huge ones). These ideas are like silver bubbles and normally, mined by dwarves. But the gushers are so full of ideas that the dwarves go crazy. That's where Ben and Joey come in. They must mine a gusher and deliver it to the right person so that the idea can be freed and take its course. Of course, this isn't an easy task. There are evil forces out there trying to stop them, and they really make Ben and Joey's lives difficult.
I found the squirts and gusher idea priceless. The world is vivid. It's no problem to picture and wish one was there themselves. The only difficulty I had with the story was that in order to understand this unique world, the author had to dive into some details (like the mining). Unfortunately, this paused the pace a bit and I found myself needing a break. Usually, this might mean I wouldn't come back, but with this book that wasn't the case. Ben and Joey stayed with me, and I had no problem coming back to the story to see where it would go next.
Summed up, this is a fun, refreshing read, which lovingly introduces readers to a new, vibrant world. Children ages 9 and up will enjoy diving into this adventure and will dream of getting their hands on one of those ideas themselves.
—Dr. S. Drecker, Amazon review