I would have dug this book if I was a teenage boy. This would have been a compelling fantasy adventure tale. 
 As an adult, the characterization style was precocious. The temporal style was frustrating. When you start a chapter by telling us what happens halfway through the chapter, then start at the beginning and work your way past the preview, it only accomplishes the draining of dramatic tension from the first half and making the whole thing plodding and uneven.