Entries Categorized as 'Review'
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Edith Pattou
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Nymah Rose has been trying her whole life to live up to her mother’s expectations as a replacement for Rose’s dead sister. A frustrating life, to be sure. Then, when her hope is weakest, the impossible happens. A talking polar bear offers to help her family out of poverty if Rose will come with him. After much debate, Rose agrees and sets off into a perilous adventure of mystery, danger, and enemy trolls.
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. (Particularly once I got towards the end and suddenly recognized the plot as one of my favorite myths.) There was more superstition in the book than I’m usually comfortable with, but it’s portrayed as being a bad idea. The characters are well written, the plot moves nicely, and the settings are quite vivid. A great read if you’re looking for a medium-length book with an interesting plot. Be warned, though, it is a little hard to put down once you’ve started.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Blog, Review
Tags:changes, dawn treader, movie, Narnia
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It’s no secret that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is not at all a cinematic book. There’s no real antagonist and everything happens in generally self-contained episodes. That makes great reading, but not-so-great viewing.
Because of that, it should come as no surprise that something had to be changed to make things flow a little better as a movie. The key here, of course, is if the changes are so vast that the movie is no longer The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
Please note that this review will contain spoilers, so stop reading now if you want to go into the film completely spoiler-free. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Advanced Readers, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Incredibook!, Review
Tags:Bryan Davis, Dragons, planets, Tales of Starlight
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Adrian Masters is chosen by a secret society known as the Underground Gateway to find a portal to a dragon planet. According to legend, dragons from this planet captured and enslaved humans many years ago. Adrian believes the legend is true and will stop at nothing to free the slaves. Meanwhile, his friend Marcelle discovers a plot by the government to kill Adrian before he can complete his mission. Together, Adrian and Marcelle must thwart both dragons and humans if they plan to survive on the dragon planet.
Masters and Slayers is supposed to be a companion book to Bryan Davis’ earlier teen novel Starlighter. It succeeds smashingly in that respect, but goes deeper and stands on its own. Readers of both books will find connections everywhere. Those who have yet to experience Starlighter will enjoy a rich fantasy world peopled by many mysteriously deep characters. Regardless of category, both sets of readers will be sent frantically scrambling to Amazon.com to check the release date of the sequel.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:E. Nesbit, Funny, magic, quests
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Phillip is bored one day in his stepfather’s mansion, so he builds an enormous city out of anything that comes to hand. To his great surprise that night, he shrinks down (or the city gets bigger) and finds himself in a realm containing every city he’s ever built. Through various magical rules, his stepsister Lucy joins him in the city, and they set out on a quest to perform seven tasks and fulfill an ancient prophecy of a coming deliverer who will be king. But their progress is hindered at every turn by the Pretenderette, who wants to claim the throne for herself.
The Magic City is signature Nesbit. How else do you describe her delightful style and humor? The story world is cleverly put together in a way that leaves you guessing about what will come next, but it makes perfect sense once Nesbit explains. I only took off half a star because the main character is bratty enough in the first couple chapters to make you think it’s not going to be any good. Keep reading! This one has made it onto my list of favorite Nesbit books.
(And as a side note, The Magic City inspired Edward Eager’s Knight’s Castle, which makes it great fun to compare the two and see where Eager plays off of Nesbit in his unique take on this concept.)
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Emmuska Orczy, French Revolution
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Revolution has taken hold of France, and hundreds of nobility are sent to the guillotine every day. A band of Englishmen, and their mysterious and daring leader known only as the Scarlet Pimpernel, lend aid to aristocrats on the death list—smuggling them from the blood-spattered country into England. But an accredited agent of the revolutionary government is determined to catch this scoundrel band and forces Lady Blakeney, one of the most popular ladies in England, to help him determine the real identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Torn between a mess of circumstances, Lady Blakeney has little idea of the adventure yet to come.
A well-spun yarn, intriguing enough to keep me reading. I would have to say that the first half of the book is the best, since it reaches a slightly mushy scene for midpoint and then the rest of the story felt a little too drawn-out. There’s also a goodly smattering of language, used by the Englishmen at the time. Overall, though, a good and interesting story, with a somewhat mysterious twist.
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