"If I believed in hell," says Jalil, "it would be approximately like that city," New Tenochtitlan, the city of Huitzilopoctli. He may be forgiven his sentiments, given that people tried to sacrifice him to a bloodthirsty god there. He is the most fastidious of the four teenaged adventurers and resents the dirt, sweat, and other unpleasant aspects of Everworld. Less fussy, David remarks that not all of Everworld can be that bad.

But Land of Loss is Christopher Hitchcock's novel. He is the narrator of Land of Loss, and his point of view prevails throughout. He is a complex character who is fond of making long speeches to whomever will listen. Sometimes, eventually realizing, he talks even if no one is listening. It is "my own simple belief that we were screwed, screwed, utterly, irretrievably screwed by Senna Wales." Part of his complexity is...