Review - Toyworld: Home of the Christmas Thief by Tony Bertauski @tonybertauski

NEW RELEASE

MY REVIEW

I have been reading books in Tony Bertauski’s Claus Universe since Claus: Legend of the Fat Man came out in 2012. I have missed some of the books, but I am always eager to enter the fantasy realm Tony as created.

Hiro’s world expands when he finds the dreams he has been having are of Toyworld. He finds friends he never would have made, danger that could keep him trapped in Toyworld, and the reason the real world is so gray and dreary. Christmas has disappeared. Hope and happiness has been stolen.

Dreams aren’t just dreams, they’re windows. Not windows, doorways. Most nights we’re just looking through the, seeing what’s over there. But you can crawl through a window if you open it.

People say anything is possible even when we know it isn’t true.

It’s hard to review a book like Toyworld by Tony Bertauski without giving all the good parts away. The adventure is definitely something a reader would want to experience on their own. The world building is out of this world. HA HA HA The descriptions are vivid and detailed. The characters are richly developed, and, if you are anything like me, you will find it hard to choose a favorite. They all have a role to play and it will take all of them to save Christmas.

Can the villain be redeemed? Isn’t that always the question?

I find it hard to name an age group. I got lost in the adventure, but it has been so long since I have had a youngster in my home that I can’t remember their reading level. I did some searching, so I would recommend middle grade and up.

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Toyworld: Home of the Christmas Thief by Tony Bertauski.

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos — 4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Book 10 in the Claus Universe.

Hiro’s parents rearrange the furniture every December.

They make space in the corner for something tall. They plug in string lights and leave them on the floor. Sometimes, they cut down a tree but don’t know what to do with it. It’s not just Hiro’s parents. Everyone does it. Come January, they all straighten up their living rooms and everything goes back to normal. They do this every year.

No one knows why.

Something’s missing and they all feel it, but they never wonder what it is. And every year that passes, the world becomes colder and grayer. Until Hiro has a dream.

It’s a world of magic, where he can taste sounds and hear thoughts, see things that defy the laws of physics and biology. It’s a place where trees are decorated and stockings are hung above the fireplace. Every day is celebrated with gifts.

It’s the last place where joy exists.

Someone has stolen the Christmas spirit from the universe and hidden it in the dream. Hiro doesn’t remember a jolly fat man or flying reindeer, or elves on the North Pole. No one in Hiro’s world remembers Christmas at all.

Hiro and others like him need to free the Christmas spirit. This is their one and only chance. If they fail, his world and all others like it will stay cold and gray without Christmas… unless they discover the thief’s true identity.

It’s closer than they think.

ABOUT TONY BERTAUSKI

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My grandpa never graduated high school. He retired from a steel mill in the mid-70s. He was uneducated, but he was a voracious reader. I remember going through his bookshelves of paperback sci-fi novels, smelling musty old paper, pulling Piers Anthony and Isaac Asimov off shelf and promising to bring them back. I was fascinated by robots that could think and act like people. What happened when they died?

I’ve written textbooks on landscape design, but that was straightforward, informational writing; the kind of stuff that helps most people get to sleep. I’ve also been writing a gardening column with a humorous slant. That takes a little more finesse, but still informational for the most part.

I’m a cynical reader. I demand the writer sweep me into his/her story and carry me to the end. I’d rather sail a boat than climb a mountain. That’s the sort of stuff I wanted to write, not the assigned reading we used to get in high school. I wanted to create stories that kept you up late.

Fiction, GOOD fiction, is hard to write. Having a story unfold inside your head is an experience different than reading. You connect with characters in a deeper, more meaningful way. You feel them, empathize with them, cheer for them and even mourn. The challenge is to get the reader to experience the same thing, even if it’s only a fraction of what the writer feels. Not so easy.

MY TONY BERTAUSKI REVIEWS