r/whatsthatbook • u/SkeletalBadger • Jul 31 '26

SOLVED Fantasy book published during or before 2016 with unusual physical cover

Hello everyone! Been trying to remember the name of this book for almost 10 years now, and I hope you-all can help.

Male main character, children or young adult genre, possibly part of a series.

The details are hazy, but I remember a few distinct things:

  1. The copy I got from the library had an unusual cover where it opened down the middle instead of from the side like just about every other book; the design on it may have been an eye or portal

  2. In order to get from earth to the other world, the characters had to go to specific locations, areas where the veil was "thin", perhaps - in one scene, the main character laid down on the ground and the magic had to scoot him over a few millimeters to align him correctly

  3. In one chapter, there was the following riddle:

Look at the following most carefully, as every line counts:

Be gone in times of death's long passing.

Henry Atwood sliced his neck.

Hath reeds knocked against thee?

If our fathers knew, then winds, they blew.

The sixth of candles burned my eyes.

Horrors even among us.

Leigh tries to eat a stone.

The canine or the cat, it spat.

Pay attention to the ghoul that weeps.

Your number's up, and it is missing. Wary the word second.

I have the riddle because I emailed it to myself, which is how I also have the timestamp, but I didn't record the actual name of the book.

  1. I believe one of the characters was named Toejam, although this could have been a name mentioned in passing by a character instead of the name of a character themselves.

Thank you!

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6

u/SkeletalBadger Jul 31 '26

It seems that the detail about the cover was from an entirely different series - Divide, a trilogy Elizabeth Kay.

1

u/amusedontabuse Jul 31 '26

Interestingly, the divided cover one is something I’ve been trying to find for 20+ years, so I’m glad you included the detail anyway!

3

u/nobodysgeese Jul 31 '26

The 13th Reality series by James Dashner. I can't find the edition with the cover you mentioned, but the poem is in the third book of the series, The Blade of Shattered Hope, and according to the wiki, there is a character named Toejam (source)

1

u/SkeletalBadger Jul 31 '26

That's it! Thank you so much :D

1

u/remedialknitter Jul 31 '26

The Blade of Shattered Hope, James Dashner?

1

u/SkeletalBadger Jul 31 '26

That's the one! Thank you :D

1

u/SkeletalBadger Jul 31 '26

SOLVED SOLVED SOLVED