Water Keep (Far World)

I bought this book for my son, but I read it before he did, and loved every page!One thing that struck me as great about this book right from the start, is that the male hero is not a buff, perfect young god to whom everything comes easily. He's disabled and picked on, misunderstood, and all around treated bad (except for one or two understanding folks like the monks and the English teacher). Yet he still keeps plugging ahead, fueled by his own internal strength. That things don't come easily to him only made me like him more as he faced all the twists and turns and sudden surprises that the story brought him. Because of the struggling and the sacrifice, the rewards are all that much sweeter.I would heartily recommend this book for anyone twelve and up.

Six years ago a new member joined my writer's critique group. Back then his name was Jeffrey S. Savage, and he only had one published book. Today I'm happy to say, that Jeff----okay, J. Scott Savage----has a brand new book, and the start to a wonderful series in Farworld: Water Keep.Farworld is the story of a girl, Kyja, who wishes she had the use of magic in a world filled with spells, charms, and potions; and Marcus, a crippled boy who escapes his cruel surroundings by dreaming about another world. Together they take on the Dark Circle, prepared to keep Master Therapass's secret and protect Farworld, while seeking the Elementals, and convince them to open a drift between the both worlds that will save both the children's lives.Many a night I have come home from a late meeting of critique and not been able to sleep because of some scary scene that Jeff read from his latest horror novel, or I've found myself jumping at some noise because his latest mystery had me seeing the boogie man around every corner. This time though, I didn't really have to worry about bad things that go bump in the night--well, there is the Thrathkin S'Bae, Bonesplitter, and the Dark Circle, but Kyja and Marcus can handle them. After all, this is young adult fantasy, and like Harry Potter and his friends, these two likable protagonists should be able to handle anything, especially since we know there are more books to come.Farworld will become a five book series, and to settle anyone who doubts if J. Scott can carry it off, he assures us, "The nice thing about this series is there is a clear progression in my mind. I know about the cool things that will build in each book."When it comes to his readers, he adds, "I really like hearing from people who had never read a book by me before Farworld. I think it's the truest test of whether your writing is any good when someone just picks your book off a shelf with no idea of who you are. It's great to be a bale to drop into a bookstore in Boston and say, `So do you have my book on order?' I even had a book ordered from Amazon.UK the other day. How cool is that?"And that's just you should do if you're reading this review: Buy a copy of Farworld. I think you'll love it.

It is a bit simple, but my kids enjoy it and I don't have to worry about inappropriate content.

I bought this for my daughter. She loves the story. I recommend it to all youth, young adults - and older adults, too.

Good to get some new, clean fun. Wish some of the new adult books could keep it clean. There are some really good nuggets of wisdom tucked inbetween the imagination so even adults can enjoy this.

My granddaughter has wanted this book for a longtime. It is full of the world for children,magic and fantasy.

Perfect gift.

Fun kids story. Lacks the concise style of more accomplished writers, but the storyline is good, and kids don't care about style too much anyway.