Entries Categorized as 'Review'
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review, Science Fiction
Tags:Animals, Edward Eager, Funny, Quick Read, Time Travel
1 Comment »
Our rating: 
Roger and Ann’s father writes a play and must go to England for the premier. So, once again, Roger and Ann get to stay with their cousins, Jack and Eliza. Only, Jack and Eliza’s parents are going to England too, so all the children go to stay in an old house in Connecticut. Magic awaits them in the garden of thyme, in the form of a Natterjack (a British toad-like creature), who tells them of the magical properties of the thyme. Of course, the magic is through time travel (har har).
Quite interesting, with funny adventures, but not nearly as fun as Half Magic. The ending is satisfying, although a bit predictable. The Time Garden is worth reading, but I found the puns to be a little much.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Advanced Readers, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Review, Science Fiction
Tags:Long Read, Song of Albion, Stephen R. Lawhead
Add a comment »
Our rating:
The champion Llew has returned to Albion, and Tegid the bard has made him king. However, spurred on by the evil Siawn Hy, Prince Meldron plans to usurp the throne. Going by bardic law (no maimed man can be king), he separates Llew from his sword hand, and Tegid from his sight. Undaunted, Tegid and Llew begin building a new city, where refugees from Meldron’s destruction arrive every day. Someday, Tegid and Llew hope to engage Meldron in combat, but Llew is from another world, as is Siawn Hy, and the only true way to save Albion is for them to return to their own world.
The Song of Albion trilogy takes a dark turn and leaves you guessing. Lawhead’s knowledge of Celtic myths, rituals, and customs serves him well. The result is a page-turner, if only to see how Llew can be king without his hand. I have a feeling that this one was more of a transition to the last book, so there might be a bit of filler. Overall, not a bad story, though I wish Lawhead would be a bit less gory.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Fiction, Mysteries, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Mark Twain, Quick Read, Roy Blount Jr.
Add a comment »
Our rating:
John Gray, a farmer, and his wife Sarah, live more-or-less happily with their grown daughter Mary in the little town of Deer Lick, Missouri. Mary and Hugh Gregory, the son of a neighbor farmer, are in love and are about to be engaged when John Gray finds out that his rich brother left all his money to Mary. “What’s wrong with that?” you ask. Well, John’s brother hates Hugh. Wanting to secure wealth for himself, John Gray tells his daughter she can’t marry Hugh. Then, while John Gray is walking one day, he finds a well-dressed stranger lying in the snow, but no footprints are to be seen. The stranger calls himself Mr. George Wayne, but Mrs. Gray soon finds out that he’s really Count Hubert dee Fountingblow. Spurned on by greed, Mr. Gray tries to make a match between the count and Mary, but Mary doesn’t love him. In the midst of this, David Gray is murdered and Hugh is accused and imprisoned. Who really killed David Gray? Will Hugh be proved innocent or guilty?
I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. Shall we say, predictable? It does have some humorous parts. Mark Twain made some jabs at Jules Verne’s stories and his source of ideas. It’s not bad, just not edge-of-your-chair material. In fact, you can even put it down in the middle of it and walk away, but there’s not much danger of that. It’s not very long.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Mysteries, Review, Science Fiction
Tags:Animals, Eleanor Cameron, Foxes, Mushroom Planet, Out of Print
Add a comment »
Our rating:
Only a week before the meeting of Mycetian League (Mushroom Planet people who live on earth), Mr. Bass receives a strange phone call from one of the League leaders. Mr. Bass, David, and Chuck hurry to Wales, where the meeting is to take place, and discover that the two most prized treasures of the League have been stolen. One, the Necklace of Ta (leader of the Mushroom people on Basidium), causes trouble whenever somebody takes any of its stones. The other, The Thirteenth Scroll, is the only key to the Mycetians’ past. Mr. Bass and the others go on a search throughout England to find the missing treasures and encounter mysteries from the past about Mr. Bass’ long lost Elder Grandfather.
This is the conclusion of the Mushroom Planet series. It’s also one of the more weird ones. Digging deep into Mr. Bass’ past, and even into the ancestry of the Mycetians makes for an interesting read. I highly recommend that you read the other books that come before this one, though. I hadn’t read two that came before this one, and it was kind of a shock to hear about people that were in previous books that I hadn’t read.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Edward Eager, Funny
1 Comment »
Our rating:
When Roger and his sister Ann learn that they must stay with their cousins Jack and Eliza while Roger and Ann’s father has an operation, they are less than thrilled. Roger packs up all his toy soldiers in preparation for the stay with his bossy cousins Eliza and Jack, who loves photography. On the train ride, one of Roger’s knights comes to life for a little while during the night. Roger wants the knight to cure his father, but the knight says that wishes must be earned. Once Roger and Ann are at their cousins’s house, a series of three magical adventures keep them busy with characters from Ivanhoe, Robin Hood, and whatever else may come along.
This is a fun book. The whole concept behind the magic adventures and the way it works is interesting. A funny take on modern meets medieval.
content rss
