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Title: Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door
Subtitle: Josh Anvil Series, Book 1
Author: Bruce E. Arrington
Narrator: Bruce E. Arrington
Format: Unabridged
Length: 16 hrs and 28 mins
Language: English
Release date: 02-14-17
Publisher: Pipe Dream Books
Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes
Genres: Teens, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher's Summary:
What would you do with limitless powers? Fourteen-year-old Josh Anvil has severe dyslexia, and his dad's recent injury from a terrible arson fire threatens his family's livelihood. But when Josh makes a fateful canoe trip in the family swamp, his life changes forever. After a mysterious event, he discovers his ability to create living things, from dragons to floating islands. And he can heal the sick. But with arson fires erupting all over Baton Rouge and a mysterious threat targeting his life, Josh must find the connection. And he can't learn this from high school. Weaved in YA fantasy with elements of action and comedy, Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door captures the trials of a high school freshman with powerful abilities at his command.
Members Reviews:
A fun read!
While this is not the genre I usually read, I got swept up completely in Josh Anvil's adventures.
As this story of a not-so-ordinary-anymore teen unfolds, Arrington's wonderful description really transports you to all the places that Josh goes: the swamp, East Eagles High, the island that he creates. Because the description is so strong, the story is something that you could easily see playing out on some sort of screen.
I thought the main set of characters in the book -- Josh, his parents, sister and friend Troy -- were all extremely well-written characters. The relationships between characters -- in particular Josh and his dad, Josh and his best friend, and Josh and his little sister Candace -- were all very believable.
In addition to the fantasy and adventure elements of this book, the story hit on a lot of topics that many kids today face: being bullied/picked on, parents getting separated, struggling in school and wanting to drop out. To me, Josh was kind of the perfect teen hero after he got his powers. He still wanted his crush to notice him. He still wanted to be popular. He still struggled with his dyslexia. One of my favorite lines was after Josh got a note from his crush that he couldn't read and he said: âWhy canât my â powers â heal whatâs wrong with me?â It just showed that even though he had powers and could do all these incredible things, he was still just a regular kid with problems of his own.
The one thing that I found to be a little silly were the teachers' names: Ella Vader, Pepe Roni, Miss MacBeth, Justin Hoop. I thought they seemed a little juvenile, even for an audience of middle schoolers/preteens.
I'm clearly not the target audience for this book, but I found it very entertaining. I think members of Arrington's target audience will want definitely want to go on an adventure with Josh Anvil.
(Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
okay read
More detail at the beginning of the story when the powers were gained would have been good. Plot was a bit far-fetched and dragged on a bit too long. Don't want to ruin the story for others so I'll word this vaguely...the additional powers that occur during the story put me off the book.
Free-wheeling teen fantasy
Very much an unfettered middle grades fantasy framed in a soft SF context, in Josh Anvil and the Cypress Door young teen imagination runs wild.
