Ecksdot, J. Washburn

80. Ecksdot, by J. Washburn

Ecksdot follows  Nate, a young man with a vivid imagination, who tends to get in trouble for indulging his imagination too far. Then, unexpectedly, things that he thought were only his imagination actually start happening, and Nate uncovers a world of invisible creatures (Andbots) that he has a unique ability to see and hear. His friend Danny, who's much slower than Nate, tries hard to keep up with Nate and his newly expanding world. When Nate finds that his new friends are in danger, he decides its up to him to figure out a way to save them.

I thought the story had a lot of promise--the premise was interesting, and some parts of the writing were quite good. But sometimes I found the story lagging a little, as some chapters seemed more long-winded than others. The first fifty or so pages were confusing, as they're told in alternating POV, from Nate to Ecksdot (one of the Andbots) and it's not clear for some time what exactly Ecksdot is.

I liked Nate's friendship with Danny, which felt real for the age--sometimes close and loyal, sometimes harsh. I wasn't entirely sure how old Nate was supposed to be; the voice (most of the time) seemed about 11-12, but at one point Nate thought of himself as a teenager, and he seemed quite interested in a girl, so he might have been a little older. The voice, too, seemed to fluctuate. Sometimes it was great--vivid, believable--and other times it seemed unnecessarily old or long winded.

Overall, a decent story, though perhaps not really my kind of story.