Rating: 4.5
Description: When Ron runs away to Bordertown, the place between Earth and Faerie where magic works more often than technology, his stated goal is to find his brother, Tony, who disappeared several years ago. But Bordertown is even stranger than Ron expected, and he ends up sidetracked, living in a run-down house affectionately called Castle Pup along with many of Bordertown's misfits and working at a used bookstore called Elsewhere. He is befriended by several Bordertown denizens, including the cool, confident Mooner and his sister Wiseguy; Elsewhere's owner, the armless-but-not-crippled Mickey; and a little girl who calls herself Florida and might just be the lost heir to Faerie. And when disaster strikes and Ron loses everything he'd found in Bordertown, he loses himself too, and it will be up to him (and maybe a cruel spell) to find himself again. And when he does, he'll have to learn to live with the person he has become, for good or bad.
Review: My description doesn't do this book justice. It is fantastic, in every sense of the word. Bordertown is one of the best worlds I've ever read about (and for a fantasy freak like me, that is saying something), and the incredible host of characters who inhabit it are worthy of mention as well. Ron is a complete idiot, but what teenage boy isn't? And characters like Mickey and Florida more than make up for Ron's lack of greatness. The plot could use a little work - while it's fast-paced enough, it's a little too simplistic, and the whole Tony thing is unecessary and only detracts from Ron's other experiences. Overall, however, I'd recommend "Elsewhere" in a heartbeat.