No Bent Spines

This review plus and interview with the author will be posted on http://www.nobentspines.blogspot.com/ 4/30/2013*Author Provided a free copy in exchange for an honest review*What to say, what to say, what to say? This book is not usually something I would pick up. It has a kind of reality that's entwined with an amazing fantasy of dragons and knights; with flute players and coma patients that can travel to unseen lands. Just beyond the mountains. Oliver, the young flute player who had to grow up way faster than any child should ever have so, feels trapped. And he is. Day after day he is forced into the same boring routine. Wake up at the butt crack of dawn to play to the villagers. To bring them joy. To let them feel what he feels, except he feels no joy when he plays. In the middle of the days he writes music, or at least tries to...because, in all honesty, he really can't. At night he plays his people something to sooth them into comforting dreams.Then he finds her. His reason to keep going. His light. And he has to give her up. He has to help her home. But what if she doesn't want to go home? At least, not just yet? While in this dream-like world he begins to question his sanity, as does she. He finds a friend in her, some one who will finally talk to him and not look at him with awe, she looks at him like maybe they could be friends.Shawn's writing is really, really good. Just a few missing commas. This was kind of a strange thing to read. NOT IN A BAD WAY I SWEAR. I mean it felt like some one was telling me the story and I was seeing it through some one else's eyes. I have two of those in my head. Yes they work just fine....well, with glasses. But other than that, they're fine. Simply put, I'm not really sure how to react to it. I liked it just fine. It was just so unusual. At least for me it was. I read to escape reality and this book let me stay in reality, not something that usually happens. And I'm still not sure if that's good or bad...Whatever, I enjoyed reading it. 3.4 Stars Total