Furthermore (Tahereh Mafi)

Furthermore
Tahereh Mafi
Puffin
Fiction, MG Fantasy
*** (Okay)

DESCRIPTION: On the cusp of her twelfth birthday, Alice Alexis Queensmeadow is certain her life can only get better, because it's hard to imagine it growing worse. Three years ago, her beloved Father disappeared with only a ruler in his pocket, leaving her Mother to crumble with despair and Alice to fend for herself against the rest of Ferenwood. In this land bursting with color and magic (the former being a mark of the latter), Alice alone has no pigment, marking her as forever different, forever lesser - and boys like Oliver have always let her know about it. Only now Oliver is trying to get her help for some reason. She's determined to refuse... until he tells her he knows where her Father is: the near-mythical realm of Furthermore, where magic is even wilder - and more dangerous - than anything she's ever known.

REVIEW: With clear nods to Alice in Wonderland in both the main character's name and the nonsense-tinged nature of both worlds she travels through, it's no wonder the plot tends toward the silly and surreal. Unfortunately, so do the characters, to the point where I just plain didn't like them for far too long. Alice is too immature, stubborn, and mercurial to begin to care about, though Oliver's little better, deliberately playing games and hiding things. The worst of the lot, though, is the narrator, who often tries far too hard to be both Clever and Profound, and who jerks the reader around too much and too often. This is a shame, as both Ferenwood and Furthermore have some great potential and bright mind's-eye-candy details (showers of bright "rainshine," night skies exploding with galaxies and planets, origami foxes from two-dimensional realms, and so forth); being forced to experience them through the double-clouded lenses of the characters and the narrator does little to serve them. Things happen, but more often than not because of stubborn, silly, and stupid things Alice does or doesn't do (or Oliver does or doesn't do - he's not entirely blameless in more than one near-disaster), with escapes materializing as quickly as dangers. The conclusion wraps up far too fast and tidily given the peril involved in reaching it, and a couple key plot points turn into limp red herrings by the end.
Younger readers, particularly those taken with surreal wonderlands and the odd clever turn of phrase and less interested in character integrity, would enjoy it more than I did. As for me, despite the potential and a few fun moments, I spent far too much time thinking I should've picked another book from my pile... a bad sign, I feel, when one is reading.

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