The Well Between The Worlds

I got given this book as a proof copy through the Teenage Readers Group at the Harris, so I thought I'd better actually finish it. The first few chapters were tedious, backgroundy stuff. To be honest, I was highly tempted to give it up as a bad job. It was about a different world, and this guy was accused of being a monster because he fell in the sea and didn't drown, so they were going to kill him. But instead of killing him, he was rescued by another guy and taken to the big city. There he learns that they have to capture monsters from this other world. That's when it starts to get interesting, exploring the morals of exploiting these creatures, with the main character possessed of greater than usual power. I did enjoy the middle. But the ending was terrible. Imagine, if you've read Eragon, that at the end of the first book, after going through all his trials and emerging from the fight with the Shade injured but alive, Eragon decides to get on Saphira's back and fly off and leave the world to sort out its own problems. Or imagine that in Assassin's Apprentice, Fitz abruptly decides that people getting Forged is none of his business and leaves forever. Or James Adams in the Cherub series completes his training and then decides he can't be bothered to go out and be a spy and help catch criminals. It was genuinely that disappointing. I was expecting, as I got near the end, that either there would be a success in the quest, or that when it failed the stage would be set for a sequel. Instead, the character randomly decides he doesn't care any more and leaves. I was so disappointed in the ending, having got through a mediocre beginning and then enjoyed the middle. If you do end up reading this book, it's pretty good up till about the last three chapters. Just stop there and imagine that's where it finished and that there's going to be a sequel.