2 out of 4 stars
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Eleven year old, Teddy, wakes up in a strange location and does not know where he is. He has no memory of how he got there, or even who he is. Soon after he wakes up outside, he is dodging green slime blasts splashing towards him. He is in the middle of a war. Teddy learns that he is on a land mass, CHAVILLE, on the planet CHA-CHA. The war is between the Slide Family Clan, the CHA-CHA Mongers Clan, and the Bootleggers Clan. Revealed markings on his arm indicate that he is part of the Slide Family Clan. Age freezes on this planet, immortalizing the inhabitants to remain children forever.
The three clans use a martial arts form of song and dance called the CHA-CHA slide. These dance moves are innate to the members of CHAVILLE. The powerful Chanetic Magic is produced by the dance moves to create special powers. The keeper of the CHA-CHA slide shoes, containing Chanetic Magic, rules the land. It is prophesized that a Slide Prince can wear the shoes, instilling peace and freedom to Chaville. The cunning CHA-CHA mongers locked up the shoes and are at constant battle to keep power over the Slide family clan. The Slide family is determined to overpower the CHA-CHA mongers and their bootlegger clan to bring peace to Chaville.
Is the prophecy of the slide prince true? Will the Slide Family clan be able to bring peace to Chaville, or will the CHA-CHA Mongers Clan continue to instigate war and stay in power?
The Slide Prince by Theodore Browne and Marvel Thompson is a young adult science fiction story that is full of imaginative war scenes among the children of the Slide Family Clan and the evil CHA-CHA Mongers Clan. I decided to give this book 2 out of 4 stars because there were many misspellings, which made it challenging to stay on track with the storyline. I decided to give a low rating because I did not like the dialogue between the characters throughout the story. I felt that it was dull, stating the obvious. I was most entertained when the story took place on Slide Islands, learning about the Slide Family Clan and their agenda. I imagined very colorful and pristine beaches across the several Slide islands, full of children learning about the CHA-CHA slide and discovering their purpose. I also thought that the Slide Family Clan allies, which were the whales and the falcons, were creative and were the most engaging characters in the book.
I would not recommend this book to my peers because I could not relate to the ideas or to the characters in the story. There was no personal connection or deep insight for me to be drawn into. The battle scenes, consisting of dance moves, resembled the battle formats in video games, in which certain moves create different powers that are needed to defeat the enemy. I felt that the idea of martial arts dance moves was juvenile and not clever. It would have been more appealing to me if the dance moves were instead just martial arts moves. I also felt that the storyline of the main characters were predictable and the ending was rushed; although, that could leave more material for future books if this book is intended to be part of a series.
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The Slide Prince
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