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Title: Needs better editing -- mediocre kids book with no appeal to older readers
Review: Leven Thumps contains some good, creative ideas and an approach to the story that could have worked much, much better. It is poorly executed and in need of not just serious editing but serious revision. This reads like a first draft that has been checked by the grammar sheriff only. There is a lot of "tell" that should have been creatively revised into "show" in a revision process that apparently didn't happen. One of the effects of that is that the characters, particularly the main one, Leven, are weakly developed and fail to generate any sympathy from the reader. I appreciate the realism of a mean childhood, but it seemed as if the mean minor characters were far more developed than the main character. This could be a good book with a serious reworking.
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