A journey into imagination like no other....

Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of....oh, wait a second.  Wrong channel.  Hehe.  ^_^

Hi there!
Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers....the place to be bookishly delighted any day of the week....despite the health of this reader.  Oye!  This cold....if it doesn't go-away-never-come-again-another-day soon, ugh.  I swear...one of these times I'm going to blow my nose and my brain is just going to PLOP...come right out with everything else.  *grabs new box of tissues*  Anywho, enough about my mucus-fest though I know you're enraptured by it all (hehe), let's dive into today's post.

The featured titled is the first of a trilogy, the rest of which is still to be published....but even if it was left to sit by its lonesome for some time (not that I want that...I REALLY want book 2 pronto!), the spotlight it seeks, it most certainly deserves.  It's an adventure.  It's a journey.  It holds a little piece of us all within its grasp and dangles it just outside of arm's reach to tantalize us some more.  It can be categorized as (older) Children's Fiction or Young Adult but no matter what label you slap on it, it still remains one of a kind (unless you're looking at the images at the top of this post...then it's two of a kind with its little cover war...the black one is the final one I believe).  Today's book of choice is....

Mathias Bootmaker and The Keepers of the Sandbox, Book 1:

It Is Said... by
Edward Medina
illustrated by
Niki Ciccotelli

From the author's site....

The world of Mathias Bootmaker and the Keepers of the Sandbox, Book One: It Is Said, is a fantasy full of mysteries, riddles and secrets.

It is the story of Mathias Bootmaker, a young man searching for the better parts of himself. His search for what he's lost begins an amazing adventure through a world of extreme imagination. A world he helped to create but a world he can't remember anything about. There's a dragon and a genius. There's a very scary little boy and a very gifted little girl. There's darkness and light, deadly evil and glorious good. It's the story of his life, the birth of creativity and the true power of the energy all around us.

In this tale of redemption, in order to find what he seeks, Mathias must save a people who were once great but are now, by their own hands, victims. He must help them face a terror that they themselves created. He must find a friend that has disappeared. Befriend a reluctant guide and rescue a very unique group of children trapped in a cursed castle full of tragedy.  

The Mathias Bootmaker and the Keepers of the Sandbox Trilogy is a dream embedded within a nightmare. A maze inside a labyrinth. It reads like an adventure. It plays like a thriller. It's designed to make you question every place you go and every character you meet. It's designed to be a puzzle you must solve. It's meant to blend grand fun and fright in the tradition of Carroll and King.

Turn the pages. Follow the path. Keep an eye out for clues. Beware of traps. But most important of all... you must not fear the Darke.

Sounds good, right?  Oh buddy...you know it is...but it can tend to stray into the neighboring land of confusion at times as well if one doesn't keep their wits about them.  Got your wits strapped down tight?  Good.  Let's take a walk through the world within the pages...our guide?  A few of my status updates whilst adventuring through this ebook.


12/01/2011  page 24   18.0%  "Fears Corners? Abandon All Hope Saloon? Count me in!"
Yes, yes.  If you love word play, creativity and the use of imagination...this is DEFINITELY a book for you.

12/08/2011  page 57   43.0%  "About half way through and STILL enchanted. Loving the world of Sandbox Harbour...."
Don't you just LOVE the name?  Works so well with all our notions of the Sand Man and everything...not the scary one, the one that helps you sleep....

12/09/2011  page 84   63.0%  "He just left the Inn Between heading towards Dark Academy. Sounds ominous, no?"
I did say there was a lot of playtime with the words and names didn't I?  *checks back*  Yep, sure did.  The Inn Between is literally an inn...between the land he's travelled through and the ground he must cover if he is to make it to the academy.  Oh, but don't let that term fool you.  It isn't an actual academy in the classic sense of the world...more of a place where those that dare dream are locked away until they are either successfully a blank slate for life, willing to do as they are told and only that, never hoping for, dreaming of, or wishing for anything more....or simply remain.  Okay, perhaps "remain" is too nice of a word here....umm, how about they simply live out their days locked away from the world and those they love dear so they can not infect the masses with their lingering sparks?  Yeah....that's a little better.

12/09/2011    100.0%  "Finished....for now. Definitely need to check out book two, especially with THAT ending! Review to come..."
Yep.  That pretty much says it all.  I thoroughly enjoyed this bookish romp through a land devoid of imagination and yet created by it.  It's a conundrum all its own but one you'll gladly and willingly step into. 




Author Edward Medina

 From the moment you set foot in the saloon (opening sequence) to the moment you face the Darke (anyone have a flashlight?), you'll be swimming in a literary world that could have only been created by someone with a great love for all things creative.....and it certainly shows.

The characters are many and hauntingly memorable.  Some shrink in size once their true nature is discovered while others will tower over like the giants their wills make them.  The land itself is breath taking as one scene melts into another altogether different and yet the same on some level.  It's a magical journey that explores the best and worst that imagination has to offer...and one that if you haven't had the chance to experience just yet....I strongly suggest you do.

Recommended read for older children through teens as the material can get a bit dark at times.  Ebook for review courtesy of author Edward Medina.  For more information on this book as well as his other works, feel free to visit him online or check out his Twitter feed ala the following links...

Author Twitter:  http://twitter.com/loboed13
Series Twitter:  http://twitter.com/mbkeepers
Author Page:  https://sites.google.com/site/loboed13/home


Until next time....happy reading!