Once Upon a Bookshelf

I got this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program.

What if life, as we know it, was just the story of some old storyteller on a planet far far away? What if it was created to be the enjoyment of a species of creatures called Bloons? And what if that story was killing the Storyteller?

Well, that’s what’s happening in Bozo and the Storyteller.

One Bloon, Bozo, asks the Storyteller to send him into the story to help find the cure. He helps Theo, a nine year old boy who wakes up in the hospital with no memory of his past, travel the world in search of a cure for the Storyteller. Along their journey, they must meet with Awakened Ones who will help them understand the story, why it is making the Storyteller sick, and what must be done to cure him.

Well…. I don’t know where to start. This book had potential. A lot of potential. But… There were so many printing errors in this book. And it’s not a matter of a mistyped word here or there. There were numerous instances where sentences didn’t make sense due to words being added in or taken out. If I didn’t know better, I would assume that this was an ARC. I looked into the publisher, and it doesn’t look like it was self-published either. So really, I’m going to be wary of reading anything else by this publisher, if this is the quality of books they put out.

And it really saddens me, because it totally took away my enjoyment from the book. The story itself was a lot of fun. It took you to places all over the world, and there were all sorts of shenanigans, and you got to meet all kinds of colourful and fun characters!

I especially loved reading about Theo’s time with the circus people – that was a lot of fun. An elephant who can communicate with the Bloon, a clown, a magician and a dancer all on board a boat that is transporting them to India? How could that not be fun?

And the craziness that Bozo gets into. One thing you have to understand about Bloons is that only animals, young children, and crazy people can see them. So, that in itself is begging for silly antics. And the story delivered in that respect.

My main quibble with the actual story itself was that Theo didn’t speak like a nine-year-old boy. He sounded a lot more grown up than that.

The Bottom Line: This book had potential. The errors drew away from that potential and enjoyment, and in the end I don’t think I would’ve been happy had I actually purchased this book. Tom Glaister writes wonderful stories, but I really hope his next ones are either checked more thoroughly for errors, or published by another publisher.