This book started out charming enough. A teenage boy stumbles into a magical shop, and finds it difficult to resist signing up to go on an adventure, especially when the man behind the desk insists on filling out the application form for him. 
 "We should put 'no' to affiliated with dark creatures. And 'no' to evil intent." 
 "Does anybody say 'yes' to evil intent?" 
 "It's better to be safe than sorry. We have to ask. It's on the form." 
 Unfortunately, it only went downhill from there. I'll be returning it to the library unfinished. 
 For the first few chapters, I was sure that we'd be getting to the exciting adventure part any time now. I guess we have to introduce the party. And establish that magic exists. And go shopping. And talk about the equipment. Come on, adventure, any time now. 
 Even after the adventure started in earnest, there was far too much time spent on boring events and conversation (not made more fun by the near-constant laughter of the characters) with potentially interesting things quickly glazed over. 
 Sample dialogue: 
 "Um, Thrang? What's this?" 
 "What's what?" 
 "This." 
 "Oh, that." 
 Sample narrative: 
 Thrang told of how he'd joined an adventure to capture a dangerous sea monster. With great excitement and vigorous demonstrations, Thrang explained how the monster had almost gotten away, but was captured in the end. His descriptions of how the monster acted amused them all, and when he finished the story, Alex and the rest of the company cheered. 
 (Cool story, bro. Thanks for not telling it.) 
 The final straw was the total wimp of a protagonist. For half the book, he embraced neither of the awesome destinies offered to him, whining, "There must be some mistake," over and over. That is, until he abruptly sighed, fully accepted his destiny, and said, "What now?" 
 Maybe his character development was not as sudden as it appeared and he'll be back to whining on the next page. I don't care to find out. Disappointing, given the characters' understanding of how writing can work: 
 "Words can do more than explain what things are. Words can give us knowledge and understanding. They can tell us of things as they once were, as they should be, or even as they might be." 
 They can, but in this book, they don't.