Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want by Obert Skye

Main Character: Leven Thumps
Location: Foo, and the human world
Time period: Contemporary
Genre: J Fiction, Fantasy
Series: Leven Thumps #3

This is the third volume of the Leven Thumps series, and I am still finding that I like some parts while other parts still annoy me. I will admit that the balance is tipping and I am not as annoyed as I was in the earlier two books. This gives me hope for the next one in the series.

As in the previous book, the storyline that grabbed me most was the one dealing with Tim, Ezra, and Dennis, along with the remnants of Sabine. The fact that Ezra is really made up of Geth's darker emotions is something I find really interesting. It reminds me of an early Star Trek episode where an transporter malfunction caused Kirk to split into two--one "good" and one "bad,"--and the point was that you really needed both halves to cope effectively in the world. Maybe that's why I find Geth a little bland--though it may also be his lithen nature which puts all trust in fate. It is mentioned a few times in the book that Geth, now that he has been restored to his proper form, is shrinking; I wonder if this is because he is incomplete without Ezra. In the meantime, I still just love the image of Ezra as this spitting mad toothpick with a purple cellophane tassle on his head.

I am also beginning to feel some sympathy for Janet--at least for the will-of-the-whisp Janet that has been trapped in Foo. She is, probably for the first time in her life, examining her life and finding herself wanting. Now that she has come to that realization, it seems as if she is going to actually do something though I'm afraid she's going to wind up on the wrong side of the coming battle. I would really like to see an reconciliation, or at least an encounter, between her and Winter. Notice how I (just like the book) am focusing totally on the sliver of Janet that's in Foo, and not paying any attention to the corporeal Janet back on earth. But now that I mention it, I wonder if losing a bit of her is having an effect on Janet--a parallel of the Geth and Ezra storyline.

Leven finally figures out his place in Foo and it's not much of a surprise, especially for anyone who has read Lois Lowry's The Giver . Still, it was handled very nicely, and I was surprised by the identity of the Want. This volume ended on an up note, and would have made a satisfying conclusion to the series if it weren't for a few loose ends. The title of the fourth book, Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra, promises to tie up at least some of those loose ends and focus on my favorite plot.