In January I decided to read a book called Story Thieves. Story Thieves is about a boy named Owen who meets a girl named Bethany, who can travel into books. Using Bethany’s power, these two travel between the real world and different fictional worlds. While traveling between worlds, they cause many problems and meet characters that can both help and stop them from fixing problems. While reading this story I found that it had unique and interesting characters and a good plot.

At the start of the book, Owen discovers that Bethany can jump into books by watching her come out of a book in the library. Soon after, the two travel into a book called Keil Gnomenfoot and the End of Everything. In the book, Owen breaks one of the few rules of traveling through books, which is not to interfere with important characters. Because of this, a character named the Magister becomes aware that his entire world is fiction. Later, the Magister travels from his book to the real world. As the book continues, Owen is disguised as a character in a book and continues its story. In the real world, Bethany is trying to send the Magister back to his book.

Story Thieves wasn’t one of my favorite books, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad. The book demonstrates great character development with how we can see Owen mature. I like how he grew to understand Bethany better throughout the book. The story also included an engaging plot with a variety of conflicts, like Owen’s. He ran into many conflicts that were interesting and intense while stuck in books. I was also impressed by how well the book conveys the emotions of the characters by showing how much they regret, sadness, or anger through attentive dialogue. However, while reading the story I was given the impression that its main demographic is kids in elementary school. Since I was a kid in middle school reading this, I didn’t enjoy it much. But if a child from the fifth grade were to read this, I’m sure they would like it very much.

Overall, the novel has some well-written points such as its fun characters and the conflicts. It also had a plot that was unique and intriguing which surprised me while I was reading through it. I found the book too childlike for me to fully enjoy the novel. I do recommend the book to children who are attending elementary school or people who want to have a fun time.

-Matthew R.

Story Thieves by James Riley is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Library.