The villains are, indeed, a little too unrelievedly bad—like wicked giants that the questing hero must vanquish.

Sim Evans and especially Paul Orrin are central characters—not just briefly sketched characters like the Thai villagers or pirates of A Boat to Nowhere—and they would be more insidious if they were less stereotypical (Sim is redheaded, big, a racist power-broker athlete; Paul is rich, big, a racist power broker businessman). Unfortunately, female characters are also stereotypical and underdeveloped—adoring younger sisters or traditional mothers who cook, criticize, listen to problems, and plan parties; there are no female teachers or community leaders; brave Mai has little chance to display the grit she showed on the ocean, and Thuyet seems merely cranky, not strong. But as an adolescent Everyman, Kien is well drawn. Albeit a "foreigner," Kien is very like every teen-ager who...