Elliot is the nerdy, unlikable, smartass, totally obnoxious 13yr old kid is in his class. His mother left him and his father when he was young and his father has paid almost no attention to him ever since. Today, he is on a field trip with his school to some place he is sure will be boring and he couldn't be more wrong. They are in a field when he sees a wall that none of his classmates can see and when he goes to climb it (as that seems like the most logical thing to do), he finds himself in the Borderlands, a world where technology doesn't work and is populated by all the creatures out of our fantasies including, to Elliot, mermaids. He's not so sure about the rest of the world though since it seems that the human guards that he would be entering into is mostly about weapons and fighting which are definitely not to Elliot's taste but then he meets Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elf and the most loveliest creature he has ever set eyes on. Right then, he decides to stay and his life turns upside down.
Honestly, I really wanted to like this book. I thought the premise was great and was looking forward to it despite how obnoxious Elliot was because I was figuring we would see character growth and development and he would turn into, if not a fully likable character, at least one that didn't just make me want to slap the crap out of him constantly. That never happened. He was always an obnoxious, insufferable character with moments of not being that but then he would revert back to form. Add in the fact that we constantly have to hear about his supposed superior intellect but yet he speaks in small words and repetitive phrases constantly! My 13yr old had a larger and more imaginative vocabulary when he was 8yr. The other characters had more character growth but it still wasn't great and I found the over-the-top sexism of the elves horrendous as well. The world building was solid but the characters populating it made it a slog to read.
Page count: 432p/16,976p ytd/325,671p lifetime
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