Tom McNeal an award winner for his book Far Far Away brought a spectacular twist to what the story was all about. At first I looked at the cover and even the summary before reading this book. The summary described the overall plot of “the story involving a boy, a girl, and an ancient ghost.” To be honest I literally thought this was either going to be a tragic love story involving a ghost or the movie Monster House (a 2006 animated movie). Either way I was going to find out. After finishing the book, who would have guessed it was a book involving Jacob Grim – yes that Jacob Grim – as ghost especially the main narrator throughout this whole entire book.

I love this book and I could easily say that it feels like you are in Jeremy Johnson’s (the main character boy) little town of Never Better which is set in modern America. To add to that, Tom McNeal’s artistry is so vivid and alive. Like I said earlier, it really feels like you are in Jeremy’s little town. I also like how fast pace the book is because it keeps the reader wanting more and on top of that McNeal is really good at keeping a very complicated plot line with a very well done internal consistency and as well as his clarity. Even for a person who gets confused like me, do not panic for his book is easily understood and very methodically concise. I doubt anyone who reads this will get confused. What made me even more interested by this book is how it talks about how Disney changes fairy tale stories just to either censor or make the story more romantic. I also love the other “mini” fairy tales that Jeremy or Jacob mentions and re-tells in this story. This nostalgia feeling brings me back to my fondest memories of my childhood.

I feel that this book is very well thought out and very well written. I cannot see anything that the author could really work better on. All I could say to his writing and his book Far Far Away does take you to a small far far away town of Never Better.