Far Far Away by Tom McNeal (review)

Jeremy Johnson Johnson has a gift: he can hear the voices of the dead. In particular, he has a familiar spirit who is really the main character here, the linguist and folktale collector Jacob Grimm. Jacob is the narrator, and while he’s unsure what unfinished business has him tethered to a spirit existence on earth, he knows that he must protect Jeremy from a malevolent creature called the Finder of Occasions, whose identity he has yet to ascertain. Jeremy, meanwhile, has become the town pariah due to a prank encouraged by the enigmatic and delightful Ginger, a spirited girl who finds Jeremy worthy of a reciprocated crush. Ginger and Jeremy are watched closely not only by Jacob but also by a dwarfish deputy and a warm-hearted baker, who each take an interest in the teen for his own reasons. Watchfulness isn’t enough to save the pair from the Finder’s evil scheme, though, and Jacob must eventually save Jeremy, in the process working through his own unresolved grief. The plot is twisty enough to surprise even the most seasoned reader, and Jacob’s lyrical narration belies his claims that brother Wilhelm was the more artful stylist. The characters are types lifted from traditional tales, but that is evident only upon reflection, as they are complexly developed and credible in a modern setting; indeed, puzzling out the connections between the contemporary small-town dynamics, small mistakes, TV game shows, high school relationships, psychopathic villains and their fairy-tale counterparts will surely be part of the fun for the geekily inclined. Enchanting, romantic, and tinged with terror, this modern story subtly weaves the haunting essentials of the fairy-tale tradition into a fascinating and beautifully written homage to its source material.