In their third book, Leven and his companions fight Azure and a new enemy, the Dearth, for the survival of Foo. While there are moments of humor, the book lacks an overall story arc, with no real beginning or end, and it's often impossible to understand why the heroes are doing what they do.

Since time began, the hidden land of Foo, introduced in Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo (Shadow Mountain Press, 2005/VOYA April 2005), has protected the ability of humans to hope and dream in Reality. Now a sinister being called the Dearth breaks free of his imprisonment under Foovian soil, seeking to breach the gateway between the two worlds and destroy Reality. Rescue rests in the hands of fourteen-year-old Leven Thumps, who must quickly grasp his new powers as the Want, master of dreams. His allies are few: tiny, furry sidekick Clover; Winter, like Leven an unwitting refugee from Reality; and Geth, heir to the throne of Foo and former toothpick. Toothpick? Yes, and he is not the only one. Once cursed to live in Reality as a tree, Geth concentrated all his anger in one part of himself. That part now lives as Ezra, a purple and green toothpick with attitude and evil intentions. Animated toothpicks are only a small part of the authorÆs inventiveness, but only a brave reader jumps into the middle of this series, where Lithens, rants, whisps, waves, thorns, and sarus populate the pages. Wars and wonders compete for attention. The result is, unfortunately, incoherence. The effort necessary to decipher the plot and its denizens is not rewarded by polished prose or engaging action. No summary of the previous three volumes is provided. The humor is on a middle school level (e.g., chocolate snot). Introduce lovers of humorous fantasy to Terry PratchettÆs Discworld series; buy this title and the projected fifth volume only where the series has proved popular.ùKathleen Beck.