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Sitzkrieg
2008-02-17, 10:35 PM
About two years ago I read a fantasy book that I really liked, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. The plot is heavily influenced by RP games and especially tabletop war-simulation games, so I figured this would be the perfect place for help.

The name had something to do with the word "bounds," I believe.

The main character, a boy in England, stumbles into a strange part of London and finds a building nobody else notices. In the building he briefly finds some mysterious cloaked figures who appear to be playing with dice and discussing the rules of the world. They banish him from Earth and he spends the rest of the book trying to return home.

Instead of normal Earth, he instead finds himself on an alternate reality Earth, sort of a different version of a similar landscape. He survives for a short time, finding that although he can still suffer, he can't die. Soon, he feels an irresistible force compelling him to a certain area of the landscape. As soon as he reaches there, he gets shuffled into an entirely different alternate reality, where the process repeats itself. Each alternate reality, as well as the magical locations that connect them, are known as bounds.

Along the way, he meets two friends: a girl who can morph her arm at will, and a demon hunting former slave boy named Joris (Jarvis?). He also meets the well-known characters of Prometheus and the Flying Dutchman. All of these characters have been similarly banished from any one reality.

That will probably be sufficient for anyone who has read the book. Help is greatly appreciated!

Anteros
2008-02-17, 11:12 PM
Well I've never heard of the book before, but a quick google search reveals the title to be "The homeward bounders."

Artemician
2008-02-18, 03:29 AM
Well I've never heard of the book before, but a quick google search reveals the title to be "The homeward bounders."

Yep. It's The Homeward Bounders (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Homeward_Bounders) by Diana Wynne Jones.

Icewalker
2008-02-18, 03:32 AM
Huh...sounds interesting. Good book?

H. Zee
2008-02-18, 03:46 AM
Yeah, I've read this. Not brilliant, but definitely above-average, I'd say, and worth a read if you spot it lying around in a library somewhere.

endoperez
2008-02-18, 03:47 AM
Diana Wynne Jones writes good books, but usually they're targeted at young adults. Some are a bit too simple for my tastes because of this, but others are great. I especially liked Dark Lord of Derkholm where a fantasy world organizes wars and quests and such to help generate more income for a capitalist with a demon bound to his service. Wizard Derk, who's mainly concerned with breeding intelligent griffons or flying pigs, gets chosen as this year's Dark Lord due to some strange prophecy, and all kinds of fantasy cliches are explored from then on.

Sitzkrieg
2008-02-19, 08:19 PM
Thanks everybody! I did try google first, but the "bound" kept getting me results about book bindings.:smallconfused:

Concerning the book, it's simple, but fun. Creative settings, anyway.