As always, I'd like to bring attention to
Barrie Summie, who heads up this wonderful Book Review Club every month and does a fantastic job. Please check out her blog and her books after reading this review, if you have the time, of course. And if you don't have the time...then make the time! Have I scared you off yet? I hope not.
So, on to the review.
Oh, 100 CUPBOARDS, how I wanted to love you. I really, really did. Your cover is awesome and eye-catching, your pages smell good, your premise is promising. Imagine my sadness when I read your last page, closed you, and realized that I was utterly disappointed with how the story turned out. But let me explain. Please.
The title of this story pretty much sums up the synopsis. A young boy named Henry is awakened one night in his aunt and uncle's house to the sound of banging. A pounding force is emanating from behind the wall above his bed, and bits of plaster are raining down onto his sheets. When he further investigates the situation with his trusty pocket knife, he finds that behind the crumbling layer of plaster is a whole wall full of (you guessed it) 100 cupboards, spaces that lead to strange worlds beyond our own. And like any curious young boy, Henry is compelled to explore where these cupboards might lead, and before he realizes it, he's gotten himself into a modicum of trouble.
Sounds pretty cool, right? I mean, the mere idea of essentially having 100 portals in your bedroom is, for a kid especially, mind-boggling. They could lead
anywhere! So like I said, the premise is perfect. It drew me in from the moment I saw the book. But once I started really getting into the story, I soon began to realize that the author had very different intentions than those of my own imagination.
First of all, Mr. Wilson does a pretty good job setting things up. Near the beginning, I was right there with him, excited to see where all this cupboard business would lead. And one of the first cupboards, which leads to a lush, fresh-breeze-filled forest area, was real enough in my mind to touch and smell, so props to N.D. there. But the setting-things-up part starts to drag on. And on. And on. And before you know it, more than half the book's been spent explaining the (what I think to be) extremely convoluted rules that govern the entering and exiting of cupboard portals. Lots of drawn out conversations. Lots of boring "action" that only serves to further illustrate the boring process. Now I know with fantasy an author is somewhat obligated to spend a decent amount of time getting through the nuts and bolts of things, but damn. If I had such trouble with it, I can easily see middle-grade readers putting this one down out of pure exasperation.
This leads me to my next concern, which is that because all this time is spent on explaining processes, not nearly enough time is spent on delivering what I bought the book to experience: Henry's exploration of all these potentially breathtaking otherworlds. With the exception of a few, the worlds beyond the cupboards end up being a bit ho-hum. I wanted lush descriptions of places that I could only dream about. But it wasn't what I got. And this is taken from the short time that Henry doesn't spend in his uncle's house, which takes up a staggering portion of the story. I desperately wanted it to be the other way around, with most of the time spent elsewhere. Who cares about a house? I want to walk around in an alien forest-land, dang it!
Before I get carried away (if I haven't already) I need to say that N.D. Wilson's writing was quite good. And it was far from being the problem. The man can put the word's on the page, there's no doubt there. And the select times where he let the story go where I felt it wanted to go, was
begging to go, the writing pulled me in like no other (I'm thinking specifically of the cool forest-world, Badon Hill). The characters were well-drawn, for the most part. I liked Henry as the hero, as he's always been the "weak" kid, and this adventure is his time to shine. And there's an introduction of a cool little creature towards the end of the book that might make the sequel worth checking out (I wish this thing had been in the beginning of the story -- might have made the yarn more interesting). There are also some nice messages littered throughout the text, and one that Henry's uncle relays to him near the story's commencement, something about how people are blown around like tumbleweeds until they settle down in life, is particularly thought-provoking.
All in all, I feel that 100 CUPBOARDS had a whole lot of potential that didn't really go anywhere, kind of like a car that breaks down just before the race begins. This book could have been
da' bomb, because the possibilities are literally endless with such an engaging premise. But unfortunately, it gets lost somewhere along the way and never fully recovers. I'm reticent to pick up the sequel, but since I do have faith in Mr. Wilson as a good writer, I may just hold my breath and give it a chance.
I give 100 CUPBOARDS a 3 out of 5.
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