The Homeward Bounders

What I love about Jones' books is how perfectly she builds up reader empathy with her protagonists. We go along with them, step by step, believing that they are wonderful and misunderstood, like we ourselves are; it is a blow to the throat when they abruptly realize their own weaknesses. "Hey," they think, "I was really childish back there." And the reader -- who thought nothing of the regretted action at the time -- goes, "Yeah! You really were quite childish back there, come to think of it! And the protagonist says, "And that person? That I hate? That person actually has some good qualities." "Yeah! You totally misjudged them, now that you mention it!" shouts the reader. Jones manages to wrap the reader utterly in the protagonist's show more natural solipsism, and their inevitable rude awakening is doubly rude for the unsuspecting reader. The protagonist only has to confront his own prejudices; we have to confront our gullibility in initially endorsing those prejudices. The genre of YA fiction is full of creaky moralizing and obvious "life lessons", but Jones is the only author that I've read who can successfully sneak behind the reader and sock them in the head when they least suspect it. She is full of cunning and guile, and I adore her for it. show less

This book, published in 1981, evokes fun D&D and other gaming memories for me, and seems to pre-date TV show premises like “Sliders” and possibly even “Stargate.” But the plot is not fun-and-games, and the story is bittersweet, joining the ranks of DWJ’s "Dogsbody" and "Fire and Hemlock." This is a heavy story that deals with war, slavery, being different, sacrifice and hope; it touches on mythical ideas such as the Flying Dutchman and Prometheus—yet DWJ includes lighter elements like teenagers bickering and trying to learn cricket. She takes the phrase “you can’t go home again” and dissects it from every angle, making the reader consider not just where home is, but what home is.

This is a book that I very much loved as a kid, and rereading as an adult, I still find the plot (and the twists), the shout-outs to mythology, and the twisty nature of reality as presented in this story to be completely gripping. The characters were a little less interesting than I remember, but there is certainly an identifiable amount of diversity, which is somewhat atypical of a kids book of the time. The plot is detailed, the world-building spectacular (as one would expect from Jones), and the writing romps along at a great rate.

This tale of moving between worlds has a lot of imaginative touches though some of them are downright bizarre such as Helen, the character who can transform her withered arm into another appendage. It starts with Jamie, who is dictating the story to a recording machine for a reason which eventually becomes clear, telling how he climbed over the wall into an odd garden in the city where he lived in what seemed to be Victorian times, and is later confirmed as 1879, and spied on some strange beings. These beings are always referred to, both by himself and everyone else he later encounters who knows about them, as Them. They kidnap him and declare him a 'discard' who must remain out of play by being made to walk the Bounds and cross from show more world to world. He is told that if he can return Home, he will be back in play as a normal piece and this is the hope that sustains him in the long interval where he has to adapt to one world after another.

Jamie goes on by himself for a long time, ageing very slowly and unable to settle anywhere because after an interval, which can be hours or months, he experiences the 'call', a very uncomfortable sensation which pulls him to the nearest boundary where he can cross over. Eventually he encounters people like himself, but most are adults to begin with no interest in him. He also finds an unusual man chained to a rock, whom he manages to give a drink to and who will eventually become a key factor in the story. It is only when Jamie encounters the strange and prickly Helen who wears her hair over her face that he begins to find friends to share his plight and eventually work with him against Them. Helen's world knows much more about the other worlds and they are able to travel together and eventually find a boy called Joris who is an apprentice demon hunter, slave to a man he idolises, Konstam. Konstam and Joris were able to travel through worlds together to hunt demons, as They allowed this, and it slowly becomes clear that They might be a form of demon themselves.

I found the story sagged a bit around the middle or a bit later though it did eventually pick up to the surprising conclusion. It was obvious to me that Jamie had reached Home but too late for any of his family to still be living long before the evidence stacked up and he finally realised what had happened, but it might not have been so clear to a reader of the intended age group. I also realised right away that the man he had found was Prometheus, even before the vulture arrived (I thought it was an eagle in the original) though interestingly he isn't given that name in the story. It is clearly him though as he is the last of the Titans and his name means Forethought. Perhaps DWJ thought any child who knew Greek mythology would get the references too soon.

Against the fantasty backdrop, a lot of the story deals with how people develop tolerance of others and learn to get along with others including those with unusual differences. The ending itself is certainly not a standard happy ending that might be expected in a book for this age group, and has a bitter sweet element. show less

If DWJ's books can ever be said to have a common theme, it would have to be the blending of myths into a whole new fantasy world. This book manages to bring the legends of the Flying Dutchman and Prometheus smoothly into a fantastic tale of interdimensional travel, quest and betrayal.

When They threw Jamie out to the Boundaries, he was at first too shocked and amazed to make much sense of it. He'd been told he could go Home if he found himself in the right world, but of course They never explained the catch...

http://www.leemac.freeserve.co.uk/homewd-og.htm#bound

Not the best DWJ story (the Chrestomanci tales remain my favorites), but a good, imaginative piece of fiction about a young boy who is forced to travel between alternate universes until he can find his home reality.

I picked this book up because it was on a list somewhere (I forget what the list was even for) and I had placed it on my long list of books I ought to check out. When I finally found a copy of the book it looked (the cover) cheesy and the plot line discussed on the back of the book wasn’t any more appealing. However, because the cover contained endorsements from other authors I admire and because several Librarythingers had said that Jones was a great author, I decided to give it a try. I’m so glad I did. This book was superb. It grabbed me from the beginning and made me want to read more and more. The plotline was interesting, the characters felt quite real, and the concept behind the story was fantastic.

I loved the way Jones show more seamlessly wove characters from various myths and legends into the book. It reminded me of Neil Gaiman’s books but I actually thought Jones did a better job of using the myths. (Not that I think that Gaiman does a bad job.) She did this in spite of the fact that he characters were not always in worlds which might not seem to connect with these kinds of famous characters. Jones also did a great job of building mystery. From almost the start of the book she creates a sense that the world will not always be what it seems. This lack of balance keeps the reader dashing forward to discover more and more of what the book really is about.

Homeward Bounders was quite an enjoyable and thought provoking read. I would recommend it to any reader who enjoys novels which take a step beyond reality. For any adult who has read and liked this book, I would recommend checking out “The End of Mr. Y”. “Y” is not the same but it has a similar feel and the ideas within the book has some strong similarities. show less