The Marvelous Effect

Marvelous World #1

by Troy CLE

Louis Proof is an ordinary kid.

He loves listening to hip-hop, racing radio-controlled cars, and hanging out with his best friend, Brandon. Then a mysterious letter invites him to visit the local junkyard. There he finds a secret, underground amusement park like no other in existence. This is the best day of Louis's life. The park even has the most amazing race course for radio-controlled cars. Louis starts racing right away. It's a close contest; he's about to activate his nitro boost to take the lead, when...

This is the worst day of Louis's life. Without warning or reason, thirteen-year-old Louis Proof falls into a coma due to a virus of a mysterious, celestial origin. When he awakens three months later, the world that he once knew and loved is totally out of control. He will learn that his illness is connected to everything that is wrong, and that it's not only his responsibility but his destiny to set things right.

This story is a megadramatic, remarkably true, super action fantasy. Get ready!

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 22, 2007

About the author

Troy CLE is the author of The Marvelous World Saga (Simon & Schuster / Random House Listening Library Audio) along with being the creator of Marvelous World University, and possesses a personal story of dedication, perseverance, and ingenuity. When he could not find a literary agent or major publisher, Troy CLE took his destiny into his own hands, employing his education, multimedia skills, and entrepreneurial zeal to self-publish and promote his novel. Using an alias to act as his own publicist, he generated the exposure needed to land two major publishing deals.
The Marvelous World Saga was launched nationwide in hardcover and audio and was awarded the Essence Literary Award for Children’s Literature. Troy CLE and his efforts as an author and educator have been featured by The New York Times, CBS, ABC, BET, PBS and many other major media outlets. He is a graduate of New York University (BA American Literature and English, MS Digital Design) and a highly experienced lecturer who has been invited to speak at many middle schools, high schools, colleges, and organizations such as the Harvard Graduate School of Education, UCLA, Seton Hall Prep, and the New York Public Library. Troy CLE currently resides in his hometown of East Orange, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Khalif · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book a 5 based on how I felt reading it as a kid, not how I feel after reading it now that I'm 21. But man, back when I was 9 or so? In the middle of a Children of the Lamp hole, looking for something to read? And coming straight off His Dark Materials and being ramped up by high sci-fi fantasy fusion? Seeing a Black boy and a Black girl fighting monsters on the cover of a book was the most amazing thing when I was nine. At 21 years old, I can honestly say I havent seen any book with a similar scene on it in all these years. The cover drew my eye, and the authentic cultural experience and imaginative world building kept my attention. Is it well written? No, I don't think so. The plot also isn't the best structured thing ever, and the author unfortunately sacrificed fully contextualizing the character's experiences to tease the sequels instead. But it was a fun, imaginative story about Black kids fighting aliens when I needed a fun, imaginative story about Black kids fighting aliens. So in recognition of that little nine year old that would grow into a 13 year old that wrote white characters by default for way too long, I happily give this book a 5. Even in the finer literature world, a lot of the classic stories we love and adore don't stand up to the test of time. Longevity is indeed a valid metric for the measure of a good story, but sometimes the best stories are just the ones we needed to read when we first encountered them.

[Leslie Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read The Marvelous Effect (book one of the Marvelous World) by Malcolm-Jamal Warner, 2007. This is an excellent up to date science fiction book that includes much of the new technology of today. As well all the characters are african american and some of their culture is included in the book. Strange things happens in the book with many adventures. A trip to a junkyard take you to another dimension, the book also includes modern new viruses where you go into a coma and come out different. Strange beings that suddenly become part of the story. A good book for video game and hip hop lovers, boys may like it more because most of the characaters are male.

[J.A. Moscat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the book that got me into reading. I was a freshman in High School when Troy CLE came to visit my school to promote his first book. Before this I didn’t bother reading. I was the kid with the big imagination and felt that the books that were given to me prior to Marvelous World didn’t meet my condition of entertainment. But enough about me let’s start the review.

When I first read this back when I was 15, the adventures were out of this world. The story takes an average cubby preteen African American kid from Jersey and thrust him into a world of wonder, with magic and inter-dimensional beings from other plains of existence in order to stop a growing threat against the fragment of reality.

This was the hook that got me.

A super hero you only read in a comic was painted with words in this book. I recommend it to every young non-reader to get him or her to start to love reading. It’s a great fantasy adventures that expands the mind.

After reading this book, it inspired me to better my own writing skills.

[Dolores · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not read this. I stopped after a few chapters and skipped to the end. Even that was painful for me. The switching of tones, tenses and voice were too erratic and made the book painful to read. I found it poorly written. Perhaps I am just not the audience for it, but I should say that I was realllllly looking forward to this one, so the letdown was hard.

[Colin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to give up on this after 40 or so pages. It was all "telling" and failed to engage me. I couldn't bring myself to pick it back up. Alas.

[Aelvana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Louis Proof's life has gotten crazy ever since he got an invitation to the JunkYard JunkLot. The place itself is incredible beyond belief---but it's also where he starts to see evil beings invading reality. Suddenly nothing is normal anymore, not even Louis himself. He's contracted a virus that puts him in a coma and disorganizes his life. When he wakes up, the world is out of control and he may be the only one who can stop it.

I quite enjoyed Olivion's Favorites when I read it a while back, and was eager to see the original story that "Book 1.5" ties into. And what I mostly discovered was that calling Olivion's Favorites book 1.5 was depressingly accurate.

The story in The Marvelous Effect begins with Louis Proof excited because he has been invited to the JunkYard JunkLot, a place which looks like it was designed to be a kid's dreams come true. There are racing cars and roller coasters, music and games, and no adults to spoil the fun. Then, after a few crazy events, Louis falls into a coma, and the book helpfully inserts three pages titled Levels II through IV that inform you the content is missing and point you to Olivion's Favorites.

The positive side, perhaps, is that when Louis wakes up the reader is as disoriented as he is. The frustrating part is that without actually having read Olivion's Favorites, moments like Louis at last regaining his memory mean nothing, because the reader is simply told he remembers without being told what he remembers.

And the missing chunk of story plagues the book in other ways too. In Olivion's Favorites the iLone and eNoli were more clearly defined with actual differences. There was a war, and given that Louis meets both sides, he has ample opportunity to see both where each side comes from and what they do. In this book, there really isn't much to tell them apart. Timothy behaves a great deal like Galonious, except that he has more compunction about using his power against people. Louis falls to frustration at several points and in general acts more like he's embracing eNoli ideals rather than being some incarnation of iLone. And Cyndi gets a lot of mention for someone who has no impact on the actual book.

The Marvelous Effect is, like Olivion's Favorites, written in a manner that encourages the reader to get excited. It's like a comic book or video game in prose, with exaggerated beat-em-ups and superpowers galore. It careens along at a breakneck pace and is clearly building to a sequel where the actual villain will make his appearance (again, though, this has little punch without Olivion's Favorites).

Content wise there is mention of strip clubs and adultery, and a pornographic magazine shows up, which I thought was a bit mature for the target audience. There is also a curious reluctance to call evil things evil. Louis's brother, for example, is set up to be the kind of boy who goes after a girl until he gets what he wants, then dumps her for the next one, but his brother is the only one who seems to actually feel bad about his own behavior (or at least, he feels bad about something which remains unspecified, and I suspect it isn't the fact that he doesn't regard anyone but himself as important).

It would have worked better if this book and Olivion's Favorites were separated differently. If the beginning of this book was on Olivion's Favorites, that would solve the latter's weak opening which assumed you knew a lot of the setup going in. Then the rest of the book could have been handled as a sequel and things would have made a lot more sense. It still wouldn't have done much for the eNoli/iLone basically being the same, but at least the parts that assume you know what happened earlier would have context. With that, in addition to the fact that it feels like nothing significant was accomplished in the latter half of the book, I rate this book Not Recommended.

[Christina Getrost · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an okay book, but could have been written much better. It starts out on page one with action--12 year old Louis gets a mysterious letter telling him to show up at the "Junkyard Junklot," where secret passwords allow him and his best friend to enter the world's biggest secret amusement park for kids. Roller coasters with no waiting, radio-controlled car raceways with virtual reality visor-controls, unlimited toys and junk food, etc. Turns out this is part of an elaborate scheme by the bad guy, Galonius (who even calls himself "The Bad Guy" repeatedly), who's trying to enter this world from another dimension. Soon Louis is being chased by strange alien creatures only he can see, but before they catch him he's knocked out cold. He comes to in his bed, thinking it's the next day, but discovers he was in a coma for 3 months. (But actually he was on Midlandia, the other planet or dimension or whatever. Here's where it really starts to get confusing.) And while he was out, weird stuff has been happening on Earth. Okay, I love fantasy books as much as anyone, and I can suspend disbelief at the drop of a magic wand or amulet, but--this book just jarringly jumps from weird outlandish character (what kind of villian calls himself Imperial Evil? And--iLone, eLoni, you say tomato...) to weird outlandish plot device to weird outlandish dimensional rift, with very little explanation. A lot of it seemed like it was written by a 12 year old! (redundant descriptions, juvenile phrases; if he used the word "Marvelous" any more often I was going to scream) It's basically a video game come to life. Perhaps in the sequel (this is book one, naturally) the writing will improve; there are a lot of fun action sequences here, and "marvelous" ideas, and it's nice to see an African-American boy as the main character in a fantasy book.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Marta Morrison for TeensReadToo.com

Wow! What a story!

Louis Proof is a teenager in East Orange, New Jersey. When the book opens, Louis one of the most popular students in his class. He is helpful, kind, and smart. He accepts an invitation to go to a wonderful amusement park where all of your wildest dreams come true. After things go a little wrong there, Louis leaves and mysteriously collapses and falls into a coma.

When Louis awakens, it is three months later and everything is different. Many adults are being replaced with replicas of themselves -- and they are a child's dream. They let their kids do anything they want. Slowly, Louis realizes that he is the earth's only chance. Earth is being taken over by Galonious, a very funny but evil person. He takes away a person's inhibitions and promises freedom. Some people steal and vandalize while others commit murder.

I spent some time speaking with my fifth-graders about this concept and I believe that they found it as scary as I did. The story doesn't come to a conclusion, as there are supposed to be sequels. The hero is also African-American, which is a first, and there are many references to popular culture which makes the story fun.

Enjoy reading THE MARVELOUS EFFECT!

[EAL · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun and fast-paced book that nevertheless dealt with some weighty moral issues. It's premise was creative (I'm not well-read enough to determine if it was original), the characters were well-written (dark sides included), and the prose flowed easily. I do, however, have some complaints: why should I have to go to the website to get the prologue? There were a lot of pop culture references, which may weaken the book's durability, but overall it was a solid book, and I hope my library has the sequel(s?).

[Ashlyn Rae (TeenageReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvelous Effect was better than expected! Actually, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. After I read each chapter, I had to keep reading! The Marvelous Effect reminded me of The Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, which is one of my favorite series. If you liked reading The Percy Jackson & The Olympians series, The Alex Rider Series, and the Harry Potter series. They are all, including The Marvelous Effect, great reads.

http://teenagereader.com/the-marvelou...

[Tris · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!

[Afia · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Marvelous Effect" was written for kids 9 - 12. Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was fast paced, imaginative, and fun to read. I like the creative names given to the characters and the interesting descriptions. At every moment, you felt what Louis and friends were feeling even when you had no clue what was coming.

I found the book engaging and easily accessible, especially for a younger audience. I gave a copy to my nephew and he really liked it. Anything to get kids reading is a plus.

[Jerm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr Louis Proof, Celestial-Like Entity. Although he doesn’t know it yet. All he knows is that he’s just woken up from a coma and all of a sudden he’s buff and powerful, and strange things are happening everywhere. But at least he’s got the Alanis, a strange amulet that does whatever he can think of. First in a series, and the audio book is read by Malcolm Jamaal Warner (Go Theo!)

[Emmanuel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is my most prized piece of knowledge i think i never forget about it. I read it in 6th grade it was one of the greatest book's i had ever read and it was so amazing some parts had stuff every kid dreams about from the secret place to the kid's riding hummer. This book is fully kid and adult friendly (even though it has some curses it does not go too far).

[Khalid · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Marvelous Effect (Marvelous World by Troy Cle was a great book because it was science fiction. It was about a boy that got powers out of nowhere and he had to use his powers to save the world from evil demons. I wish he could make a book two.

[Alexander Encarnacion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this book 4 stars because it's about teens/kids fantasy of life.The only bad thing about it is that while reading it the reader would feel as if it was a child's book. I felt like I was a little more mature to e reading this book but was still interesting. I would recom

[Susan Haines · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author tried hard to make the book relevant and topical to kids, but I'm not sure it won't just be dated in a another few years. The students I read it with really liked it, and they are hoping for a movie version (which the cynic in me says they would only be disappointed by).

[M'heeraw · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I randomly pick this audio book from my library an I was happy that I did. Even though, it is truly meant for 10-12 years old I really love the story line. And will get this book so my future children can read a book about superheros that looks like them.

[Angie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Loved this book it is a great read for t

[Angie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the book it read well and kept me wondering what was next.

[Demi B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

awesome

[Hassan]

It was one of my favorite books. It has a good plot so even though it is long it is really good. I enjoyed the characters and the way they act.

[Allison & Masai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking

[Gary Boschee · Rating 1 out of 5]

It had a silly story and was mostly unbelievable, but the main character did have an interesting moral dilemma near the end of the book.

[Troy CLE · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote it so of course I think its GREAT!

[Bamba Thiam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was so good and hope to read the next series

[Elizabeth Circenis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, that involves interworld travel, action, and awesomeness

[Elias · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Mills College Library]

Fiction C6231m 2008

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just great. It's such fun to read!