Roderick MacLeish (1926–2006)

Eight year old Bentley Ellicot is bullied by boys in his town because he has a limp. He’s never had a friend until he meets Sally Drake in the physical therapist’s waiting room. She’s there because she can’t talk- or, at least, not so that anyone can understand. But Bentley has no problem understanding her gibberish.

Bentley is unusual in ways besides his limp. He was born knowing he’s lived many times before. He’s always been a hero every time- Arthur, Hercules, Gilgamesh, and show more others- and each time he’s defeated the face of evil: Prince Ombra. Ombra brings evil into the hearts of humans, affects the weather, and brings misery in general. Bentley has learned magic spells from horseshoe crabs and the wind. Now, with another round with Prince Ombra coming up, he has Sally as well as Dr. Kreistein, their Jungian therapist and mythology scholar. But while he’s got the power of the ages to draw on, he’s still only an eight year old boy….

Pretty good fantasy. I liked the world building. I liked the kids and Dr. Kreistein, although I wasn’t over fond of Bentley’s father- he succumbs to Ombra’s influence annoyingly fast. One thing I found odd is that there is no explanation of the evil that infests our world when Ombra is dormant, but maybe it’s a thing where we have balance, rather than Eden, until he shows up. Four stars. show less

I thought this book held a lot of promise and certainly had some interesting ideas, but it never quite came together for me. Some central questions never got answered and Bentley’s final battle with Ombra, while personally quite a challenge, didn’t quite seem epic enough, given the premise of the entire book. Dr. Kreistein and Willybill were the most interesting characters—Willybill was especially painted to be menacingly mysterious, but I always though he was mostly observing and show more maybe even protecting Bentley. Many of the individual scenes were very effective but, as I said, the whole book just didn’t seem to come together convincingly. show less

openlibrary.org

Got almost 1/3 through, admiring the language, trying to appreciate the original take on mythos and mysticism, and got to an incident for which I really wish that I'd had a content warning. I shoulda stopped when the legends of King Arthur became a big part of the story cuz I know I don't like anything about that mess. Or maybe I shoulda stopped earlier, when references were made to the Greek gods, cuz they're insane. Well, I read a few more pp., and it looks like it gets even show more darker and weirder from here.

Not for under age 14 imo.

I wonder if the 'abridged'/'bowdlerized' version would work better for me, or for children.

I do appreciate that some GR members tagged it horror, actually. Maybe if I'd seen that while I was tracking this down I'd not have wasted time and energy reading as far as I did. show less

"I think kids and even younger teens will enjoy Prince Ombra, but any examination of the story beyond the surface leaves the reader to deal with a set of unsatisfactory philosophical conclusions necessary for the plot to function."

Read more at http://www.i-reports.info/b/B200804.html