children Archives - Page 2 of 3

Yzabel / May 8, 2016

Review: Complete Alice in Wonderland

Complete Alice in Wonderland by Leah Moore

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Available for the first time in softcover! Join Alice on her whimsical journey down the rabbit hole. For the first time ever, Lewis Carroll’s beloved masterpiece is faithfully adapted and illustrated in its entirety, including the long-lost chapter, “The Wasp in a Wig!” From her initial meeting with the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, to her final dinner party with the entire (and outrageous) Through the Looking Glass cast, every moment of Alice’s adventures in that astonishing landscape is captured in gorgeous detail. With old favorites like the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter joined now by a long-forgotten Carroll creation, The Wasp, in one of the book’s latter chapters, children and adults alike can rediscover the complete Alice tale and fall in love with Wonderland all over again!

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Rev iew:

An appropriate adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderlan” and “Through the Looking-Glass”. An adaptation, not a retelling: it follows Carroll’s works faithfully, and offers a good approach to the original text (complete with its poems and rhymes—it includes “A Wasp in a Wig”, too, which at the time was dropped at Tenniel’s request).

I really liked the artwork here. At first, I was expecting something a little more colorful, but after a few pages I realised the slightly muted colours worked pretty well. The drawing style has an anime-like edge when it comes to human faces; as for the Wonderland creatures and animals, their interpretation is vivid enough, and overall the atmosphere has a whimsical je-ne-sais-quoi that totally fits with Wonderland. It is “expected Alice” (blond girl, blue dress, white stockings…) yet at the same time it has its own flavour. The artist brought a lot of details into her illustrations and panels, and more than once I found myself perusing those, trying to find out what I had missed; this would deserve a second or even a third reading.

I’m not too sure if this book would make it easier for younger readers to get introduced to Carroll’s stories, as it doesn’t makes the text more simple to read; on the other hand, it’s definitely not “dumbed down”, which wouldn’t be very interesting for me, and I think it can provide a good introduction in this way.

Yzabel / April 1, 2016

Review: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’ve Got Henchmen

Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’ve Got Henchmen by Richard Roberts

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

What would middle school be like if half your classmates had super powers? It’s time for Penny Akk to find out. Her latest (failed) attempt to become a superhero has inspired the rest of the kids in her school to reveal their own powers.

Now, all of her relationships are changing. She has a not-at-all-secret admirer, who wants to be Penny’s partner almost as much as she wants to be Penny’s rival. The meanest girl in school has gained super powers and lost her mind. Can Penny help her find a better one? Can she help an aging supervillain connect with his daughter, and mend the broken hearts of two of the most powerful people in the world? And in all this, where will she find time for her own supervillainous fun, or even more dangerous, to start dating?

It’s going to be a long, strange semester.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.]

I have been following this series from its first volume, which I really liked, so I’ll admit to being slightly biased. I like the main characters, the world of superheroes and villains developed here—everybody knows they exist, with more or less admiration and acceptance of what they do, and with a subverted Masquerade trope (supers don’t hide per se, but there’s an unspoken rule about “not getting personal”, that is, not revealing people’s day-to-day identities).

And I’m feeling torn, because I liked this third volume, yet also found it kind of weak in terms of plot. Perhaps because it’s more focused on a part of Penny et al.’s life we hadn’t really seen yet, that is, growing up, and finding out that dividing one’s life between villainous activities, trying to become a hero, and just good old norma activities, is time-consuming and difficult.

In that regard, it was interesting. Other kids are making their coming out, refusing to hide their powers any longer, and a wind of acceptance is blowing over the school. The club activities, the new lair, those were both fun to read about, and also leading to more thoughtful considerations.

I quite liked Marcia’s development, although I wish we had been given some more information about how exactly she turned out like that (“she has the scrolls” is a bit of a shortcut: how did she survive them?). Her powers are of a kind that I find fascinating, that is, would you stay sane if nothing could hurt you, or not for long? Or would you start experimenting, looking for the one thing that may do you harm? It made me think of Claire’s experiments at the beginning of the “Heroes” series, only in a more.. unhealthy way. But then, I much prefer this Marcia to theuppity girl from book 1.

Quite a few things that left me frustrated, though:

– This is really more a “slice of life” book, without any real plot apart from the loose “teenagers gathering and developing their powers”. As mentioned above, it allowed to delve deeper into our three wannabe-heroes (or wannabe-villains?) problems and potential choices for the future, and to reveal more about existing characters, like Bull and his family. On the other hand, there was no real main plot here, ideas would spring up and unfurl into short events that would then die down, and good plot devices were lost in the middle. What about the robot? (Having her around more would’ve been fun… and I think we could do with a new Vera by now.) What exactly happened to Barbara to make her another kind of unpredictable, but perhaps still as dangerous as her sister? Also, we’re having many secondary characters introduced (the club) and this is screen time may have been better used on the Inscrutable Machine (who didn’t do enough villainy to my liking—I want to see them dostuff back together more often!).

– Still no real insight as to Ray’s family, which makes his position hard to relate to: it seems his parents would hate him if they were to learn he’s a super, and so he both wants to stay and to leave… but that’s only what we’re told. We never get to see his family. We don’t know what they’re like. Regular people, from what I rememberfrom book 1… or not so much? Are they heroes or villains in disguise? Or maybe people who got badly hurt in the past by some hero or villain, and now they despise everything “super”? I really, really want to know, and I really hope there’s more to Ray’s folks than the little we’vebeen told so far. It can’t be so simple. And if it has to be “that bad”, then I want to see it, too.

– Are the Akks so blind as to their daughter’s activities? Or are they pretending not to know? Deluding themselves? By now, this is more than troublesome. Maybe Penny’s father might get away with this (scientist more focused on his own inventions, and all that), but it’s difficult to keep seeing the Audit as this calculating, probabilities- and statistics-wielding ex-hero, as this sort of human computer, when she’s so oblivious to what’s so obvious. The “bumbling blind adult” trope isn’t working.

Honestly, I don’t like giving less than 3 stars to this book. But…

Nevertheless, this novel raises some interesting questions and potential future arcs at the end, and I’d still want to see those in a next installment, if it meant more antics from the trio. Among other things: what is the Inscrutable Machine to do, to choose, considering that they seem to be really talented at villainous stuff (with the good deeds backfiring), yet still find themselves instinctively helping people as well as causing mayhem? And what is Spider up to?

Yzabel / December 4, 2015

Review: The Night Parade

The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanquary

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

The last thing Saki Yamamoto wants to do for her summer vacation is trade in exciting Tokyo for the antiquated rituals and bad cell reception of her grandmother’s village. Preparing for the Obon ceremony is boring. Then the local kids take an interest in Saki and she sees an opportunity for some fun, even if it means disrespecting her family’s ancestral shrine on a malicious dare.

But as Saki rings the sacred bell, the darkness shifts. A death curse has been invoked… and Saki has three nights to undo it. With the help of three spirit guides and some unexpected friends, Saki must prove her worth – or say good-bye to the world of the living forever.

Review:

(I received an ARC copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Although I didn’t find this novel exceptional as far as I am concerned as an adult (simple writing style and predictable character development), I think it would nonetheless make a good read for its intended middle-grade audience.

The story is easy enough to follow. A middle school girl (Saki) forced to spend a few days for a traditional ritual at her grandmother’s, far from her city friends, cell phone and usual activities. Her family’s fairly typical, with her parents and an annoying brother, and Saki immediately comes off as annoying, too, since it’s obvious she’s self-centered and somewhat whiny, and that she associates with people who’re only friends on the surface (out of cowardice more than real nastiness, though: she wants to be popular, and doesn’t dare risk alienating the Queen Bees, so to speak). Not a very likeable character, which however leaves room for growth once she realises that in the country just like in Tōkyō, she needs to cut the crap and stop being such a big baby.

This characterisation is somewhat problematic, in that, as said, Saki’s not very likeable, and possibly difficult for a reader to identify with, because she represents aspects we usually don’t want to acknowledge in ourselves, especially when we’re teenagers: she’s kind of a bully by association, but also weak and ready to do silly things just to avoid being rejected. Her development, in turn, becomes predictable: either she stays like that or she becomes a better person, by learning to pick her friends and stand in the face of the real bullies. (I wasn’t sold on the stereotypical bullies; she’s “friends” with one in the city, then meets another one in her grandmother’s village, and both situations being so similar somewhat made them a bit unbelievable and cliché.)

On the other hand, such an evolution is a positive one, and seeing a character progress and find her own path is always nice. The novel shows how Saki gets to grow up and respect many things she didn’t pay attention to before, including family bonds, through her adventures following the Night Parade. Another good thing is how she’s represented as a young girl/teenager first and foremost, and not as a “look, I’m Japanese” character.

I found the book to be quite reminiscent of a Miyazaki movie (more specifically Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi: the outhouse with the Filth Spirit, the girl having to solve problems in the spirit world in order to atone for a mistake committed in the human world…), but the blend in folklore creatures and myths was less harmonious, and too often felt simply described, rather than vivid (and there’s room for vivid here: some scenes were downright scary, and could have had even more of an impact with just the right amount of storytelling). I suspect it will work much better for younger readers, and not for someone who knows more already. Also, some creatures were called by their Japanese names (tengu, kappa…), while others were in English, like the fox and the ogres; I’m not sure about the reasons behind this choice. That said, the spirits Saki meets on her journey through the sanctuary are interesting, and amusing for some (oddly enough, the tengu more than than tanuki, probably because he was so serious and driven that he ended up sounding funny–gallows humour and all that).

The messages carried through this novel were to be expected: how the modern world intrudes on the ancestral, spiritual one; how younger people are glued to technology (cell phones…) and don’t pay attention to traditions anymore; how it’s so easy to let “bad” people influence us just because we don’t feel brave enough to confront them (too bad we don’t get to see how/if Saki confronted Hana in the end!). It was a bit heavy-handed at times, but that was something I could forgive, because all in all, Saki’s progress remained enjoyable to read about: both as a journey to repair what she had rent in the spirit world, and as a journey in learning to solve problems and expand her view of the world and people in general.

Final rating: 3 to 3.5 stars.

Yzabel / October 7, 2015

Review: Harry Plotter and The Chamber of Serpents

Harry Plotter and The Chamber of Serpents, A Potter Secret Parody by M.J. Ware

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Austin comes to England knowing as an American he’ll stick out at his new school. But when an errant owl lands him at Hogwarts he’s in for more than he expected.

Review:

[I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

A somewhat funny idea, although in the end it didn’t go far enough to be more than quaint fanfiction. The story is basically that of the second Harry Potter book, from the point of view of an American pupil thrown into Hogwarts. It was mildly interesting, in that it inserted a different take on why some events got to unfold the way they did in the original novel (the cat hair ending up in the potion, for instance), as well as peeked into what may have been the daily life of other students than the ones we saw throughout Rowling’s series.

However, this should have been taken further, and to greater lengths, I think, in order to become a story of its own. As it was, it didn’t bring much to the Potterverse, because the “blanks” it filled weren’t many, and so it was mostly a retelling from a different perspective, rather than something really interesting. Austin being American didn’t play much of a part either; he could have been German or French, and it would’ve been roughly the same. The reason why he ended up in second year when he hadn’t attended the first wasn’t really explained either: “so that he’d be on the level with the Harry, Hermione and Draco of the official timeline” and “because he wasn’t in England before” are a bit of an easy cop-out.

Some aspects were tentatively explored (a Slytherin/Slipperen being friends with a Gryffindor/Gryffinbore, opening up to other people, all Slytherins aren’t uptight worshippers of pure blooded ancestry…), only not enough. It felt like an attempt to redeem this House by downplaying the others (Harry seen negatively…), in a “Slytherins are misunderstood” way, instead of delving further into what could’ve been complex House relationships. This is reflected in general in how the novel remained too close to the original one, and never soared away from it to become its own.

Also, seeing the names changed (Harry Plotter, Hogworts…) was strange: everything’s so close to the original that it doesn’t fool anybody. No doubt a matter of copyright, yet it made me wonder where Rowling stood regarding all of this. Did she allow it, and if yes, then why not a joint effort of sorts, using the real names and places? And if not allowed… then what? (Yes, you can tell I’m always torn when it comes to fanfiction. That said, the book’s free, which I can appreciate—making money off it would’ve been shameful.)

Fun enough if you want something light to read and on which you don’t want to focus a lot. Otherwise nothing exceptional.

Yzabel / August 2, 2015

Review: Little Girls

Little Girls by Ronald Malfi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Blurb:

When Laurie was a little girl, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs. It was one of many rules imposed by her cold, distant father. Now, in a final act of desperation, her father has exorcised his demons. But when Laurie returns to claim the estate with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, it’s as if the past refuses to die. She feels it lurking in the broken moldings, sees it staring from an empty picture frame, hears it laughing in the moldy greenhouse deep in the woods…

At first, Laurie thinks she’s imagining things. But when she meets her daughter’s new playmate, Abigail, she can’t help but notice her uncanny resemblance to another little girl who used to live next door. Who died next door. With each passing day, Laurie’s uneasiness grows stronger, her thoughts more disturbing. Like her father, is she slowly losing her mind? Or is something truly unspeakable happening to those sweet little girls?

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

An idea that seemed creepy and interesting, but that just fell flat for me.

The beginning was rather slow, with descriptions that quickly became too tedious to go through, and often the dialogues felt useless and too on the “daily conversation” side. It worked at first, to establish the normalcy of the situation (as normal as it could be considering the circumstances); however, after a while, breakfast banter and the likes didn’t bring anything to the story, and were tiring to go through. I skimmed some of those parts, hoping to get to the next creepy bit, since creepy is what I wanted.

Too many of the characters’ actions and thoughts were told, rather than shown. Although it’s never easy when dealing with psychological aspects, as obviously a lot is internalised and cannot necessarily be “shown”, here I never felt close to the characters, as if I was meant to stand remote, and watch them without “feeling” anything for them—especially when flashbacks were concerned. At times, they would come out of nowhere, at length, and then mentioned again later to other characters, almost in passing: maybe it would’ve worked better for me if I could have read them at those moments, when they were more relevant, and not at some random point in the first chapters. When Laurie’s secrets started surfacing (what Sadie did to her, for instance), I couldn’t bother caring anymore. I could muster neither much interest nor compassion for Laurie or Ted—who had a knack also for coming up with his own crap when it wasn’t needed. (Seriously? You really had to tell ease your guilt by telling your wife, when clearly she was going through her father’s death and potentially getting crazy?)

The ending was frustrating. It hinted at a specific event, but without spelling it, and echoed in this way the fact that no answer was given as to whether Laurie was actually crazy or not. I still don’t know now if she imagined everything, was just stressed out, was haunted by an actual ghost, was plain crazy… In this regard, a more definite ending would have been more satisfying for me. It seemed to me that there wasn’t that much of a plot, and that the “ghost” didn’t do much for most of the story except just be there. Not to mention the twist about Laurie’s father, coming when I didn’t care anymore. I admit I finished reading because I expected an answer… and I never really got one.

I liked the setting, though: the creepy house with its old furniture, the well and the dilapidated glass house that were clearly a catastrophe in the making, the photographs of little girls kept in an album, what Laurie discovered in the garage. Still, it wasn’t enough to sell me on this novel. 1.5 stars.

Yzabel / July 8, 2015

Review: Serafina and the Black Cloak

Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty

My rating: [usr 4]

Blurb:

“Never go into the deep parts of the forest, for there are many dangers there, and they will ensnare your soul.”

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of the Biltmore estate.There’s plenty to explore in her grand home, although she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa, the estate’s maintenance man, have secretly lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember.

But when children at the estate start disappearing, only Serafina knows who the culprit is:a terrifying man in a black cloak who stalks Biltmore’s corridors at night. Following her own harrowing escape, Serafina risks everything by joining forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, the young nephew of the Biltmore’s owners. Braeden and Serafina must uncover the Man in the Black Cloak’s true identity before all of the children vanish one by one.

Serafina’s hunt leads her into the very forest that she has been taught to fear. There she discovers a forgotten legacy of magic, one that is bound to her own identity. In order to save the children of Biltmore, Serafina must seek the answers that will unlock the puzzle of her past.

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

I will confess to requesting this book mostly because of its cover, in a “oh this looks pretty” moment. I don’t regret it, for the story itself was fairly entertaining as well, and cute to boot.

Serafina lives with her father in the basement of a huge mansion, in the last years of the 19th century in the United States. There’s a slight steampunkish atmosphere to that mansion, as it’s crammed full to the brim of trinkets and machines to make those work, notably the dynamo Sera’s father is in charge of. There’s horror, in the shape of the Man with the Black Cloak, catching children at night and making them disappear within the folds of his costume. There’s magical realism, with the forest, its legends, its old cemetery with a statue of an angel, and a quaint atmosphere, full of gentlemen and ladies, of little girls in nice dresses and little boys with their faithful dog and horses companions. There’s mystery and a sense of adventure, for Serafina knows all the corridors and chimneys and tiny places in which to hide, and moves around unseen, able to spy on people and thus to discover pieces of the puzzle that no one else had.

While the setting might look a bit far-fetched, with its dozens or so or people always staying at Biltmore and its over-a-hundred rooms (although it was indeed a real house, historically speaking), I thought it worked very well for this kind of tale, providing a greater than life place from which it would be nevertheless difficult to escape—and so, of course, the characters had to face whatever awaited them. Surrounded with hills and a mysterious forest, the mansion wasn’t the kind of house you could leave just like that, as doing so implied potential dangerous encounters in the wilderness. The mysterious man on the prowl in the halls at night lent a feeling of foreboding to the story, effectively trapping the children in their rooms… and those who would be walking around at night were sure preys.

Sera’s and Braeden’s friendship was so very cute. Sera never had any friends, due to having to stay hidden. Braden felt at odds with other children, and was wary of striking new friendships after what happened to his family. Two kids, not teenagers yet, still innocent in many ways—the rat-catcher girl living at night, the boy who preferred dogs and horses to other people—getting to find each other, understand each other better, appreciate each other no matter their differences. It was quite refreshing.

Too bad that I had my suspicions about who Serafina and the Black Cloak really were, and had them too early: the hints were easy enough to decipher for me (including a certain encounter in the forest). It didn’t matter that much, though; the story remained nicely enchanting and eerie. Foreshadowing can, after all, also lead to knowing yet to still eagerly awaiting the actual events and reveals themselves.

(If anything else, I also wondered about some of the adults’ reactions, especially the Vanderbilts sending their nephew away; in the light of the other children’s disappearances, it was somewhat logical, but the timing was weird. Wouldn’t that have put him in more danger, having to go through the forest at night?)

Nevertheless, this novel will likely be enjoyable for a lot of younger readers… and not so young ones as well, all things considered.

Yzabel / June 11, 2015

Review: The Gates of Atlantis Complete Collection

The Gates of Atlantis Complete Collection by Wendy Knight

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Centuries ago the great city of Atlantis had to be hidden from humans. Now magically buried in the depths of the ocean, it is the source of all magic. All is well in the magical world…until the leaders of Atlantis listen to the whims of a mad man.

A group of teens set out on their own unique quests to fight for the world they love. They face dangers they didn’t know existed. As they battle their way through mysterious tunnels and secrets of the ancient world, they find themselves in a race against time. One by one, the mad man will shut down the Gates of Atlantis and destroy the magic. Can these unlikely heroes stop him before it’s too late?

Book 1, Banshee at the Gate by Wendy Knight: Half-human, half-banshee Seven loves her life with her awesome brother Haran and her dad while delivering souls safely to death…until Death comes calling for Haran.

Book 2, Guardians of the Gates: Mermaid Talia wants to be a Guardian. Exander wants to leave Atlantis and explore the upper world. An accident at one of the gates gives them both their chance, but they also make a startling discovery—someone is destroying the gates.

Book 3, Secrets of the Mine: Adam believes in myths and magic. Clancy doesn’t. Two normal kids’ lives change when they embark on the adventure of a lifetime on the back of a sea kelpie…if only they can get away from the strange creatures that are determined to stop them.

Book 4, Magicians of the Deep: A trip to Ireland changes Colin’s life when a bite from a mysterious fish awakens unlimited knowledge and dormant magical powers. He knows exactly how to save a magical world, but can he get there before it’s too late?

Book 5, Madness Behind the Throne: Phoibos, bullied and taunted by other kids, believes something is wrong with Atlantis. His charm with the nobility and skill as warrior as he grows make him believe nothing will stop his quest to purge Atlantis from everything he finds impure.

Book 6, Battle for Acropolis: Talon keeps getting in trouble. It’s not his fault things around him randomly burst into flame, but he’s not sticking around to find out what happens next. When foster sister Hattie encourages him to run, they make a break for it, only to find an unexpected destiny awaiting them in Atlantis. They just have to get there first. When they do, they find a lot of help. Characters from all the previous books appear to help fight Phoibos. These unlikely heroes risk it all to save the magic and fight for Atlantis.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Banshee at the Gate:
2 to 2.5*

+ Interesting in terms of mythological content, especially as banshees aren’t so often featured.
+ Nice and heart-warming relationship between Seven and Haran, and fun dynamics between them and their allies.
+ No stupid love interest out of nowhere, for a change. This is meant to be adventure, and adventure we get.
– Confusing in how Atlantis was tackled in the beginning, presented as something obvious all the characters know about; I felt like there was a previous story I had missed. Perhaps I did.
– Villains too easy to get rid of in my opinion. Coming into banshee powers too easy as well.
– Plot sometimes a bit silly.

>> So far this reads definitely more like children/middle grade than truly young adult—I wouldn’t recommend it to readers above 12-13 (Seven, the protagonist, is 13, too).

Guardians of the Gate:
2*

+ Merfolk with a strong backstory of friendship and loyalty. Again, no useless romance.
+ Wily Leprechaun and good lessons about “careful what you wish for (and how you wish for it)”.
+ More info about the other ancient races (Giants, Dragons).
+ Ties into the first book.
– Plot dragged in parts and I found myself skimming at times.
– Adults shown as idiots who can’t/won’t do anything to help, which is too often the case in books, and isn’t believable.
– Lack of consequences (shouldn’t the villains try to act against the young heroes by now?).
– Some more ties with the first book would’ve been appreciated, especially at the end of this one.

>> Confirming this is definitely for kids, and not YA.

Secrets of the Mine:
2.5 to 3*

+ The kelpie. I liked reading about him.
+ Archaeology and finding forgotten civilisations.
+ Antagonistic characters that learn to cooperate.
– Slightly annoying characters (childish instant dislike).
– The writing wasn’t too exciting.

Magicians of the Deep:
1*

+ Learning more about Indiatlantis.
+ The way magical creatures are actually affected by the portals closing one after the other.
– Seems to be for an even younger target audience.
– Too much telling.
– More pronounced than in Book 2: how much Atlantis is like our (Anglo-Saxon) world: school, malls… Why couldn’t it be more different, as mysterious as it’s supposed to be?
– Repetitive crossovers with book 2.
– Callous characters (the Laytons seem like a nice enough family, at least the parents, but Colin just doesn’t seem to care? Also what he learns about his family later was dropped like a brick.
– This particular book jumped from one thing to the other (for instance, discussing an important matter, then suddenly, “anyway, let’s go to the mall”). It reminded me of how I’d sometimes play when I was younger, but in terms of plot and writing, it didn’t sit well at all with me. To be honest, I’m really not sure I would’ve liked reading this as a kid.

Madness behind the throne:
3.5*, possibly 4*

+ More mature characters, possibly because Callidora is an adult, but also because Phoibos even as a child kinds of grows up fast.
+ Political intrigue that is easy to understand for younger readers.
+ The stakes do seem more dangerous here than in the previous books
+ Though the “bad guy” has no excuses, we’re also shown what contributed to shape his vision/madness.
+ Atlantis shown as technologically advanced (computers in the age of Plato), while still being different—more magic, less malls and 20th-century-like American names.
+ Hints about who Phoibos really is
– …Though they make it fairly obvious to guess what his secret is (or not? We’ll see…)
– A few of the adult characters (the king, Lisandra) are somewhat childish.
– The relationship between Callidora and Titanos progressed so fast (although Calli does acknowledge that she doesn’t know herself why that was, and that it didn’t make sense).
– Atlantian years being 100 human years, reconciling both was a bit hard (considering what happened in the previous books, it feels like Phoibos took his sweet time to get to closing the doors, when it was described first as it happening within a mere few days).

>> So far, definitely the one I preferred in the series, because it deals with more political themes and shows more of the other side of the conflict, all this in a way that is easy to grasp by middle-grade readers without being dumbed down.

Battle for Acropolis:
3*

+ Everything comes together and without a repeat this time, since it’s the direct follow-up to previous books’ events.
+ Hattie was adorable.
+ Surprises that were predictable, but in a good way (you know they’re coming, yet you’re happy to see them coming, and happy when they’re finally here). The “finding the grandma” part definitely made me smile: expected, but cute.
– Some characters got discarded pretty quickly, and didn’t feel as regretted as they should’ve been.
– Villain decay at the end—not as epic an ending as I had expected.

>> Enjoyable throughout, although the finale felt somewhat flat.

Conclusion:

2.5/3 stars overall. It was OK for me as a light reading (2/2.5 stars), but I think a middle-grade audience would enjoy it more, hence my higher rating in the end—after all, I’m not really the targetted readership.

On the plus side, the relationships between the characters in general rang true. The creatures that appear in the novels are a good introduction to mythology in general, even if other series dive into this more deeply (Percy Jackson, for instance): Irish (banshees), mermaids, dragons, nymphs…

On the downside, Atlantis itself often felt too much like your average contemporary setting (high school, mall, etc.). Not saying I wanted to see only guys in togas living like in Grecian antiquity—and this setting makes it easy for kids to find their marks—but I expected something more different, not a copy of our modern world (I’m positive young readers wouldn’t mind, and wouldn’t have a hard time to embrace it either).

Yzabel / February 28, 2015

Review: The Death House

The Death House by Sarah Pinborough

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

Toby’s life was perfectly normal . . . until it was unravelled by something as simple as a blood test.

Taken from his family, Toby now lives in the Death House; an out-of-time existence far from the modern world, where he, and the others who live there, are studied by Matron and her team of nurses. They’re looking for any sign of sickness. Any sign of their wards changing. Any sign that it’s time to take them to the sanatorium.

No one returns from the sanatorium.

Withdrawn from his house-mates and living in his memories of the past, Toby spends his days fighting his fear. But then a new arrival in the house shatters the fragile peace, and everything changes.

Because everybody dies. It’s how you choose to live that counts.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I resent the comparison with The Fault In Our Stars, because The Death House was more readable: Toby, for all his faults, wasn”t so insufferable, probably because he behaved like a somewhat surly, but all in all normal teenager. And Clara was enjoyable, with a positive look on what happened to her, even though she knew how all the kids at the Death House were doomed to end.

I wouldn’t deem this the best novel ever. It left me wanting for more explanations. However, as a character study, at least for the main ones, it fairly hit the spot for me. The children and teenagers in that strange house all had to cope with their fear (and prospect) of dying in their own ways, andI thought we got to see quite a few interesting examples. Ashley, the believer kid who finds strength in the Bible and tries to share it with others. Toby, retreating into himself and pretending he doesn’t care, yet still takes very much care of the younger ones. Louis, both extremely intelligent, though still a child in many ways. Will, all innocent and carefree, thus hiding his fears from himself. Clara, who had to live to her parents’ expectations, and oddly enough was somewhat “freed” by the house. Jake, disguising his own fear behind his bully attitude.

Those were interesting portrayals, and through their interactions, we got to see how days and nights were spent in that microcosm that so much looked like a boarding school of sorts, yet was anything but—shadowed as it was by the mysterious sanatorium that none of the kids ever got to see, only hearing about it, only knowing one of them had been taken there when they discovered that child’s belongings being gone in the morning. And the presence of the Matron and the other silent nurses only made the pressure worse.

True, not much happens in terms of plot-twists during the largest part of the novel. It was still a nice read nonetheless. The ending was a 50/50: part of me expected it to be different, more original… but at the same time, the other part thought it couldn’t (and shouldn’t, anyway) have been otherwise.

I didn’t rate this book higher because in the end, too many things weren’t explained, and they kept bothering me, try as I might to ignore them. The “Defective gene”, for starters, was rather sketchy. How came the kids displayed so many different symptoms, and what was it suppose to lead to? Would it turn them into monsters of sorts, as was hinted at a couple of times? The kids were isolated like freaks, carried away in vans by men in dark suits, as if to protect the world from them; in my opinion, this would have warranted more than a few vague hints about the exact nature of the Defectiveness.

The same applied to the nurses and to their behaviour, especially considering a specific twist. Why would they hide it, and try to hush it? Out of fear it would go public? An actual reason would have been nice here.

Also, most of the twists were fairly obvious. It may be just me, I don’t know. I just guessed pretty early where they were leading.

One aspect of the book I can’t decide about were the other kids. While the characters I listed abover were indeed interesting, the rest were more like cardboard figures (even Tom, who got to share Dorm 4 with Toby and the others), which was weird in such a close space where I would’ve expected everyone to know everyone else. However, this fitted Toby’s tendency to close his eyes on his surroundings, and increased the feeling that each child was on his/ her own, and that at the end, they couldn’t afford to care about the others, only themselves.

Overall, I was leaning towards “I like it”. However, the lack of explanations, and the somewhat bland figures of the nurses and some of the kids, left me feeling that something was missing.

Yzabel / February 19, 2015

Review: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Blew Up The Moon

Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Blew Up The Moon, by Richard Roberts

Genre: middle-grade, science-fiction, superhero action-adventure
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Date of Publication: January 29, 2015
Cover Artist: Ricky Gunawan

About Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Blew Up The Moon:

Supervillains do not merely play hooky.
True, coming back to school after a month spent fighting – and defeating – adult superheroes is a bit of a comedown for the Inscrutable Machine. When offered the chance to skip school in the most dramatic way possible, Penelope Akk can’t resist. With the help of a giant spider and mysterious red goo, she builds a spaceship and flies to Jupiter.
Mutant goats.
Secret human colonies.
A war between three alien races with humanity as the prize.
Robot overlords and evil plots.
Penny and her friends find all this and more on Jupiter’s moons, but what they don’t find are any heroes to save the day. Fortunately, they have an angry eleven year old and a whole lot of mad science…

Find Please Don’t Tell My Parents I Blew Up The Moon Online:

Goodreads | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review:

My rating: [rating=3]

I read the first installment of this series, Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m A Supervillain, last year, and thought it was a pretty good novel. So, of course, I couldn’t pass up on the invitation to read the second one.

I found it weaker, though I still liked it. It contains a lot of good ideas and concepts, and it’s perfect if looking for a wild adventure in space, with alien technology and bio-weapons, lost space stations hidden on asteroids, and a steampunkish flavour to boot. Those parts were highly amusing, in terms of Weird Science, and Penny’s power developed in a way that clearly forced her to rethink a few things and decide whether she wanted to go (too) far or stop while it was still time. Archimedes, for instance, was both fascinating and creepy in its uses and in the possibilities it introduced.

Remmy’s character, too, was an interesting counterpoint to Penny: two girls with similar powers, with a basis for strong friendship, but also for jealousy and competition. I could se where Remmy came from, why she eacted the way she did, out of stubborness more thananything else, probably… but then, she’s also only eleven. I’d certainly like to see her appear again later in the series, if only for a chance to see how that relationship could develop if given more time and more distance.

On the other hand, the fast-paced plot sometimes left me dangling, as I wondered “wait, when did this character walk into the room?” or “why aren’t they paying more attention to the fct that [character X] has basically done a huge mistake?” It made me feel like the story carried the characters where they needed to be, but not always with a clear reason.

Two things I regret:

– The somewhat lackluster presence of Claire and Ray. Their antics are funny, and they make good sidekicks. However, at the end of the first novel, we had been given more to see about Ray, in particular, and I had hoped this arc, among others, would be explored. However, apart from playing sidekicks, those two didn’t really get much development.

– The very feeble involvement of Penny’s parents and other adults (although I laughed at the Audit’s interpretation of the situation, because… it did make sense, in a “I’m a parent who cannot imagine my daughter is evil, so I’ll unconsciously find another solution”). In the first book, I really liked the “please don’t tell my parents…” concept, and how the Inscrutable Machine had to go to various ends to hide their identity, make people think they weren’t Penelope, Claire and Ray. Here, since most of the story unfolds in space, the pressure of not being discovered was much less a problem (even though Penny’s realisation at the end—how to make a Hero appear—gives me good hopes for the next installment’s potential plot).

In general, it is still a pleasant story to read, though its predecessor will remain higher on my list.

About Richard Roberts:

Richard Roberts has fit into only one category in his entire life, and that is ‘writer’, but as a writer he’d throw himself out of his own books for being a cliche.
He’s had the classic wandering employment history – degree in entomology, worked in health care, been an administrator and labored for years in the front lines of fast food. He’s had the appropriate really weird jobs, like breeding tarantulas and translating English to English for Japanese television. He wears all black, all the time, is manic-depressive, and has a creepy laugh.
He’s also followed the classic writer’s path, the pink slips, the anthology submissions, the desperate scrounging to learn how an ever-changing system works. He’s been writing from childhood, and had the appropriate horrible relationships that damaged his self-confidence for years. Then out of nowhere Curiosity Quills Press demanded he give them his books, and here he is.
As for what he writes, Richard loves children and the gothic aesthetic. Most everything he writes will involve one or the other, and occasionally both. His fantasy is heavily influenced by folk tales, fairy tales, and mythology, and he likes to make the old new again. In particular, he loves to pull his readers into strange characters with strange lives, and his heroes are rarely heroic.

Find Richard Roberts Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Yzabel / January 26, 2015

Review: Billy Lovecraft Saves the WorldBilly Lovecraft Saves the World

Billy Lovecraft Saves the World by Billy Lovecraft

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

The last thing Billy Lovecraft’s parents sent him before the crash was a photo of something on the wing of their plane.

Now he’s stuck with a horrible and heart-breaking mystery: What was that awful creature, and why were his parents targeted?

It’s up to Billy to gather a team of like-minded kids and lead them through a dark new reality where the monsters are real, not everyone is who they seem to be, and an ancient alien wants to devour the world.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

It’s kind of difficult forme to rate this book higher, though I hoped (and wanted) to. In general, it was a light, fun read, and I did enjoy it. The style was a bit too juvenile to my liking, but for a middle-grade audience, this would be quite all right. And, anyway, Lovecraftian mythos for the win. Especially if you have played the Call of Cthulhu pen and paper RPG, you just can’t help remember those sanity rolls, those poor Investigators ending up mad, dead, digested into some eldritch ceature’s stomach, not necessarily in that order, mind you. There’s something deeply enjoyable in such a setting for me. Also, eldritch cuteness factor as far as Cthulittle was concerned: talk about a weird combination.

This novel has an inherent flaw, though, in that its protagonists and tone seem at odds with its potential target audience. The characters were between 10 and 12, basically either at the end of elementary school or at the very beginning of middle school (depending on one’s perception of the schooling system in their own country, that is). Their actions and reactions are often those of kids, yet at times they display features that I’d expect to crop up in older teenagers, not in pre-teens.

The other problem is the very mythos the story is based on. I remember discovering and reading Lovecraft’s works when I was 15-17, not before (and I used to read horror stories before that). I’m really not sure a 12-year-old reader would be familiar with all the references, and unfortunately, once you remove those, the story remains nice, but… nothing extraordinary either.

I think it would be more interesting, and reach a wider audience, if the tone had been more YA and the protagonists a wee bit older. (But maybe that’s just me.)