Kirkus Reviews
Death and destruction reign in this first novel that reads like a shooter video game written by a hip-hop aficionado. A prologue sets up the scenario with the escape of the evil eNoli from the Marvelous World. Louis L. Proof, a regular all-American kid living in suburban New Jersey, is dragged from his everyday life to battle these invaders from the world of Midlandia. From the start, the action is fast, the suspense constant and the story always entertaining. It doesn’t hurt that the young characters-Louis, his cousin Angela and his wise-cracking friend Brandon-are likable and well-developed, as are their Midlandian allies. The evil invaders don’t fare so well, being both cartoonish and predictable. Narrative techniques include an omniscient narrator, bold-faced comments and pep talks, letters and flashbacks. A complex mix of fantasy and science fiction will appeal strongly to adventure fans, gamers and reluctant readers. The combination of ambitious narrative, some overly explicit violent episodes and a few vulgarities will require maturity on the part of readers. (Fantasy. 11-13)
School Library Journal
Fantasy fiction with African-American protagonists is hard enough to come by, so it’s a joy to discover a book that fills the need with flair. Louis Proof is racing RC cars in an underground amusement park when he glimpses a pair of ethereal beings. Soon after, he falls into a coma and awakens three months later to a world turned upside down. Surreal events have become commonplace, several parents and teachers are now unusually permissive, and the teen has been granted phenomenal powers. Eventually a stranger named Timothy explains that Louis is about to become a CLE–“a Celestial-like Entity.” He has been recruited for an Earthbound extension of the eternal conflict between two races at the center of the universe: the virtuous iLone and the evil eNoli. Louis needs to prevent an escaped eNoli named Galonious from “liberating” humanity from the effects of empathy and conscience. While Galonious inspires a great deal of unsettling behavior (Louis’s best friend steals pornography; physical abuse, murder, and suicide are also mentioned), things never get too dark, and the author forgoes a traditional “black-and-white” approach to the conflict by examining the complex interplay of the positive and negative forces in the characters’ lives. The narration has the free-flowing, engrossing rhythm of oral storytelling, punctuated by poetic interludes that comment (sometimes ironically) on the action. A worthy addition to modern-age magic tales such as Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (Hyperion/Miramax).–Christi Voth Esterle, Parker Library, CO
Publisher’s Weekly
Troy CLE’s debut novel, originally self-published, has its heart is in the right place, but unfortunately often gets bogged down by an overwrought narrative. Seventh-grader Louis Proof receives an invitation to an exclusive, hidden playground called the JunkYard JunkLot. Once there, he discovers a subterranean playground filled with video games, pizza and skateboard half-pipes. Louis is spooked by two pairs of phantom eyes he sees while playing a larger-than-life car racing games. Soon after, he falls into a coma for three months, and when he wakes up the world appears to have gone mad: parents don’t act like themselves, kids start disappearing and reappearing, and fire hydrants spray cookies and ice cream. Louis learns he is becoming a Celestial-like Entity (“Close to perfection, but not quite,” says Timothy, a supernatural mentor to Louis) and he gains powerful abilities that make him a threat to the Galonious Imperial Evil, who has crossed over from the “thought dimension” with his army of Crims to free everyone on earth from all responsibilities. There is a profound message at the book’s core-that selfish desires to do only what pleases oneself are among the darkest evils imaginable-but it’s buried fairly deep beneath a profusion of arcane alien names and too-cute direct asides to the reader. (“Will L. Proof really be able to put a stop to all this? Do you want him to stop it?”) The urban setting and characters of CLE’s world may attract fantasy fans and bring new ones to the fold, but they might struggle to comprehend it once they arrive. Ages 10-up.