Farworld: Water Keep

"By ourselves maybe we can't do much. But together..."

Written by: J. Scott Savage

Releases to public:

September 12th, 2008
Preorder

Pages: 432

my rating 1-5 stars:

5 stars!

Farworld is the one place 13-year-old orphan Marcus Kanenas feels normal. Farworld is a place where everyone can use magic. The animals talk, and some even tell jokes. He even has a friend there, a girl whose name he is not sure of because Farworld is just a dream. This is the only way that he can escape from reality. Farworld drowns out the bullies trying to beat him up, and being treated like an outsider because he has to live in a wheelchair.
That is until one day a mysterious man who claims to be a lawyer for his parents comes to the school saying that Marcus needs to go with him to see his eagerly waiting parents. Sensing that this lawyer is a fake he tries to get away from the school. Which ends up with him somehow landing in a river in a strange land where he meets the girl in his dreams, Kyja. He finds out that he is in Farworld, which isn't just in his dreams but actually exists! Kyja is sort of an outsider just like him; she is the only one in this magical world that cannot use magic. She has been trying to learn how to use magic with the help of Master Therapass, a great wizard. It turns out that Master Therapass knows who Marcus is, but how can that be when Marcus has never been to Farworld before?
Marcus discovers more about who he is when him and Kyja embark on a journey to save Farworld from the evil wrath of the Dark Circle. The Dark Circle is an army of evil creatures such as Summoners, Thrathkin S'Bae (wizards who use dark magic), the undead, and Unmakers. To do this they must consult the elementals of water, land, air and fire to open up a drift between Earth and Farworld.

Farworld: Water Keep is a magical book that not only has a great plot, genius characters, and has awesome action scenes but it also has a very strong moral to it. I really enjoyed the plot because it kept me hanging onto the book and wondering what could happen on the next page. Marcus and Kyja really have a great bond in the book, which makes them 'magical' characters (pun intended). In the book they realize that even though by themselves they can't do much, together they can be unstoppable. At first when Master Therapass tells Kyja that "The real power of magic lies within you. Who you are, what you do, and... what you may become." she doesn't believe him but as the story goes on she starts to realize that he is right. I believe that the moral doesn't just apply to her but to everyone. That everyone has their own 'magic' in them, if they realize it or not. Let’s not forget those action scenes, which were great. They kept the book going at a nice pace.
I recommend this book to students from middle school all the way up to high school and that enjoy books about believing in yourself, and that deals with magic.