Unclouded Day by William Woodall

Source:  I received a copy for review

Genre:  Young Adult, Fantasy

From Goodreads:

Brian's life is a hard one. Abandoned by his father, abused by his alcoholic mother, and mocked by his classmates, his only treasures are his beloved little brother and his old guitar.

Then Brian finds a magical amulet in his attic, and things begin to change. Soon he has more power and wealth than he's ever dreamed of, and for a while all seems to be well. 

But Brian has made a terrible mistake which may cost him everything, and his only hope is to seek out the Fountain at the Heart of the World, wherever that may be.

A beautiful tale of what it means to have faith even when God seems to be asking the impossible.

My Thoughts:

This was another one of those books that once I started it I sat up until I finished it.  I was so engaged I thought I had read a short story.  The time flew by so quickly.  I felt so sorry for Brian and his younger brother.  The story starts off with such heartbreak when we learn what type of mother they have.  She is the type of person you really want to hate.  You don’t hear much about the father until later on. This story, although fantasy has so much to teach us.  When Brian finds the amulet he kind of lets the power go to his head.  I have been a fan of the TV show “Once Upon A Time”.  Mr. Gold aka Rumplestiltskin has a saying every time someone comes to him for magic.  He reminds them that they need to remember that “magic comes with a price”.  It seems that Brian never thought about the price of using the amulet until it was almost too late.  What I didn’t understand was why his mom waited so long to let him know she knew he had it.  It added another layer of hardness and uncaring to her character.  This story has a redemptive side.  This is an allegorical novel.  It can be read by young and old, Christian and Non-Christian and be enjoyed by all.  I read this as an e-book.  This is a book I most definitely want to get for my classroom.  I even know which student is going to get to check it out first.  This is definitely an author that needs to be recommended more often.  I look forward to reading and reviewing another of his books I have called “Tycho”.  Go ahead and check him out.

You can find his website here.