Kingdom of Ink and Paper By: Matthew Newman

#FridayReads

Kingdom of Ink and Paper By: Matthew Newman
Published by: Sandcrest Publishing LLC March 2, 2021
Genres: Teen and Young Adult Fantasy Action Adventure; Teen and Young Adult Coming of Age Fantasy;
Pages: 321

Every book you’ve ever read. Every story you’ve ever heard. What if they were all true? When best-selling novelist Arthur O’Neill is found murdered, high school student Will Morgan assumes his premonition of the event was mere coincidence. But when Will meets a character from one of Arthur’s famous books, he learns there’s more to this man’s writing than just words. By way of a powerful warrior named Tam, Will is introduced to the World of the Written, a universe parallel to our own where every story ever published by humans comes to life. On the surface, the World of the Written is a realm of fantasy beyond Will’s wildest dreams: one of magic, knights, wizards, and high adventure. However, as Will explores more of this newfound land, he realizes Arthur’s death may have just been the start of something even fiction’s greatest heroes aren’t prepared to face.

A few weeks ago I learned about Netgalley. I was searching for an arc (advanced reader copy) of a book due out this summer and was led to Netgalley. This was the first book to take a chance on me and give me a copy for my review. The story sounded like a pretty awesome read. Almost like the television show Once Upon a Time.

As I began reading my excitement ended. The main character is 14 but is written much older. Some of the older characters have a very juvenile feel to them. The whole book has a middle-grade feel to it and should not be marketed to young adult readers.

When the author came across a problem in the plot he explains it away by adding more characters and giving them magic that they shouldn’t have. The entire storyline of the characters going to school and doing homework felt very unnecessary. There is also a lot of info-dumping early in the story. The plot was very confusing to follow.

The book began to drag on and on until I never thought it would end. When it did finally end it was a massive cliffhanger and was not satisfying at all.

I really wanted to like this book but it just wasn’t good.