General Overview

The Different World by B.W. Luby is a strong middle-grade novel that engages whimsy and fantasy to address genuine personal issues for readers of all ages. The Different World is not Luby’s first book; however, the book can be read without having read the novella he published two years ago. The story follows a young girl who is brought to The Different World by a pair of Foxlings who have to help her overcome the Corrupter, Envy. Envy is one of many Corrupters and sits near the upper ranks of an army of Vile Ones. The plot is, by nature as a portal fantasy, quite Narnia-esque. 

Luby did a wonderful job of addressing the issue of Envy in an approachable yet fantastical fashion. I applaud his work in the betterment of not only children, but men and women of all ages.

Plot

As mentioned before, the plot is very much like Narnia. I would say the story is more like if Narnia followed exclusively Edmund in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe as Lucy received more and more attention from Aslan. It is the kind of book where one quest leads to another and to another. The structure is simple and easy enough to follow without feeling condescending or childish.

The main character and her little brother enter the world of the Foxlings so that Valerie can face her inner demon, Envy. Needless to say, in typical childish fashion, Valerie does not want to face envy and is quite afraid of it. Over the course of their various quests, however, Valerie eventually gains the courage to face herself. This was a solid plot with good, gradual development. 

My one criticism for the plot is that it almost felt comical in the middle that it was a fetch quest after another fetch quest.

The plot is a solid 9/10.

Characters

I thought most of the characters were pretty memorable. 

Stargazer is fun though sometimes his attitude makes me question whether he is afflicted with a Vile One as well. It could be a point of contention in the future as I know this is a planned series with the books becoming increasingly more complicated. I would like to see where that goes.

Moonfrost is your archetypical motherly figure and mentor, as is Dreamer, but they are so differentiated in their approach, past, and experience that they do not feel the same. 

There were also some smaller side characters who I imagine will be more prominent in following books.

Luby never gave me a reason to question why a character is in the story, which is a good sign especially for fledgling authors like Luby and (more so) myself. 

My one desire, however, for the foxling characters is that they would feel less… anthropomorphized. The read right now like humans with different skin instead of, as it was in Narnia, a creature living according to its nature who happened to talk and be intelligent.

I give the characters a solid 9.5/10.

Writing

The writing is where I am going to give Luby the hardest time. Is it well-written? Yes. Is it well-written with the audience of someone in middle school in mind? That’s a little shakier. There were a few typos and missing commas but nothing atrocious. I could count the errors on one hand. Good job overall, Mr. or Mrs. Editor. My bigger issue is that there were some words that either I had to look up or was glad I had looked up before. Vocabulary choice leads me to my other big complaint with the book being targeted toward middle-grade readers: the chapters are long. 

There was a prologue, an epilogue and a little over 20 chapters with a page count around 450. Yes, pictures were included, but only about one per chapter (compliments to Luby’s sister, the illustrator, for her great illustrations). That leaves us with an average chapter length of close to 20 pages. The book is not small by any means, and it is double spaced, but the word count per chapter felt unusually high for its target audience.

My recommendation would be to split up some of the chapters. Many of the chapters already feature section breaks that could have, and honestly would have, functioned better as chapter breaks. But I am whiny, and my brain is small.

It was not all bad though, just a little tough at times. It was like he was writing (at times) to a Tolkien reader instead of a middle-schooler.

In terms of writing style itself (and I’m being picky here, I know, but it just bothered me), Luby relies on using similar or same terms to describe the same things frequently even in different scenarios. Stargazer “snickers” a lot and many of the male Foxlings wear a “wolfish” grin as just a couple of examples. Also, not personally a fan that “Man in the Sky” was the name of the in-universe deity.

Writing was solid, but I give it about an 8.5/10.

Final Rating: 9/10

Good job, Luby. I am glad to see another young Oklahoma Catholic writing healthy fantasy in this day and age. Keep going on your series!

As a follow-up note, I did receive my copy for free (and my review is much delayed… sorry again). I maintain that my review is completely honest.