I really liked Agatha’s arc; she started off petulant and spoiled, but very quickly matured into a respectful, responsible girl. I think this is one of the few books I where I preferred first-person over third-person!
Thomas was very nice, I really liked him. He was distant but kind, and even if he didn’t show it much, he really did care about Agatha. I fell in love with Bryn almost immediately! I loved how bright and bouncy and outspoken he was, despite Sexton’s (GODDAMMIT I HATED THIS GUY ALMOST AS MUCH AS CLARENCE) abuse.
Speaking of Sexton and Clarence, those two were utterly despicable. There was a brief moment towards the middle of the book where I thought Sexton was going to help Agatha and I started hating him just a little less... And then he stole her boat and that little soft spot froze up all over again!
Clarence... Well, I hated him from the start. The very first scene in the book tells us everything we need to know about him: His greed, his spoiled and very appropriately named dog, Brutus, and his love of ordering others around.
The plot is quite straightforward and a little repetitive: Agatha sees Rose the ghost girl, she gets into shenanigans trying to find out more about Rose, Clarence rolls in to cause trouble, rinse and repeat... But the characters kept it fresh and I barely noticed. For a book with only six regularly-appearing - and admittedly one-or-two-note - characters, it sure felt like there were a lot more!
Saturday, September 10, 2022
Monday, September 5, 2022
Book review: Lost Children of the Far Islands by Emily Raabe
Category: Middle-grade
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌑 4/5 stars
Recommended for: 9-13
Lost Children of the Far Islands is a 2014 book about a pair of twins, Gustavia and Leomaris (Shortened to Gus and Leo for most of the book, and their five-year-old sister, Ila. When their mother falls deathly ill, they’re whisked away to a small, isolated island by their Selkie grandmother.
First off, the characters. Gus and Leo were quite interesting MCs. They had all their little quirks and it made them pop off the page! Ila started off well too, but I liked her better before she started talking.
Also, how did she know to say “Moirai”? Why did she turn into a fox instead of a seal? Is she psychic or smth? I wouldn’t mind Ila getting a book all to herself!
The plot was quite fast and dramatic in the beginning of the book, it slowed down quite a bit in the middle, and sped up again in the last third. I would’ve preferred a more consistent pace, but it didn’t put me off enough to drop the book.
I also would’ve preferred that the Bedell be either straight-up evil, because what’s in the book makes it really hard for me to like him as a good guy, or as a villain.
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