When Alex Fog discovers a mysterious new book among his fantasy classics, he plunges right in. Jayden’s Rescue isn’t, however, an ordinary fantasy; it’s a book that expects more involvement than just reading, and Alex finds himself responsible for rescuing the character Queen Jayden from the evil magician-king Rechner who has locked her up in his dungeon. Alex has to solve 400 mathematical puzzles before school ends if he’s to rescue Jayden in time. But having rescued her, Alex and his puzzle-solving buddies discover that Rechner wants Jayden back and only a magical word hidden in a further sequence of puzzles can protect them from his vengeful wrath.

Jayden’s Rescue is Vladimir Tumanov’s first novel and it’s a disappointing debut for the University of Western Ontario literature professor. With only the slightest of plots and almost no character development, the story is driven entirely by its puzzle-solving premise and quickly grows tiresome. The cover by David Bourdelau (whose otherwise engaging black-and-white illustrations are featured throughout) will be especially unappealing to boys, who won’t likely be drawn to the wimpy character and fairy-tale castle.

It’s not as if Tumanov was devoid of good ideas – his evil magician-king has the ability to slip between the world of the book and Alex’s world, for example – but Tumanov doesn’t make good use of this device. He has Rechner’s dungeon filled with monster guards, only one of whom plays any role in Jayden’s rescue. Even the final conflict with Rechner is underplayed and fizzles when it should have sizzled with excitement and tension. Readers looking for mathematical fantasy should look instead to Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth and Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s The Number Devil.