THE LAND OF WHOO

When young Michael Henry discovers the truth about his birthparents, he’s catapulted into a magical adventure in a strange new world.

Michael Henry’s life is pretty typical. His biggest problem is that his adoptive parents, who are struggling to make ends meet, had to sell their house and move him to a new neighborhood and a new school, away from his friends. Then Michael Henry wakes up from a strange dream directing him to an underground cavern full of portals to other worlds. Along with his new friend, Savannah James, he enters one of the portals and finds himself in the Land of Whoo. There he learns that his birth father, Prince Knox, was the heir to the throne of Whoo and that both his parents were killed by the evil Dark Wizard, whose forces now threaten Michael Henry’s grandfather, King Titus. Michael Henry sets out on a quest to find the magical Medallion, an artifact of incredible power that once belonged to his mother and can help him bring peace to the Land of Whoo. He quickly discovers that finding the Medallion is only the beginning, as the artifact will only work for someone who proves himself by completing five trials and demonstrating that he bears no malice toward anyone or anything in the Land of Whoo. And it’s not just the Land of Whoo that’s in danger from the Dark Wizard, for he’s already begun sending his forces to Earth. O’Brien’s storyline will seem very familiar to fans of the Harry Potter series and similar works. It’s a fun book to read but doesn’t provide anything new or unexpected to the genre. And O’Brien’s love of his characters’ cleverness often leads him into loving descriptions of their daring escapes that tend to stall the narrative at exactly the times when it should be moving quickly.

A well written and entertaining tale that presents a classic kids’ fantasy story.