Leslie's Book Fort

Fifteen-year-old Xander King is very unhappy when his father takes him and his siblings out of school in the city and moves them to an old house in the back of beyond. However, the house turns out to have mysterious properties like rooms that lead to other times and places. This sounded like an interesting premise but I was seriously underwhelmed by the book. I couldn't get emotionally involved with the characters and the plot (plot?) just didn't seem to hang together - it was just event after event. If mysterious things are happening, at least some of them should be explained in the first book.

Also, what was the point of Xander being an amateur filmmaker? Was it so that he could constantly refer to things or people being like something or somebody in movie X, or will it become more relevant in future books? (Incidentally, I'm old enough to remember Dark Shadows, but no one in this book's target audience will have a clue.)

Finally, while it was great that the father had a warm, caring relationship with his sons, the female characters (the mother and young sister) only seemed to be there to 1) scream, 2) cry, 3) have things kept from them to "protect" them, and 4) get kidnapped. Obviously, #3 didn't work very well.

I have the next book out of the library on audio and I may try it to see if things get any better, but if they don't pretty quickly, I won't even bother finishing the book.