I was tagged by the lovely Liz from Stellar Kitten Book Reviews to do the 3 Days, 3 Quotes tag! If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll already know how much I adore quotes. Thank you so much for tagging me, Liz! Make sure you all take some time to go check out her blog. 🙂 ❤
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Heather @ The Sassy Book Geek
Anna @ My Bookish Dream
Ashleigh @ A Frolic Through Fiction
I was tagged by the lovely Liz from Stellar Kitten Book Reviews to do the 3 Days, 3 Quotes tag! If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll already know how much I adore quotes. Thank you so much for tagging me, Liz! Make sure you all take some time to go check out her blog. 🙂 ❤
“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Dani @ Touch My Spine Book Reviews
Lacey @ Lacey Paris Books
Jo @ My Little Library in the Attic
I was tagged by the lovely Liz from Stellar Kitten Book Reviews to do the 3 Days, 3 Quotes tag! If you’ve been around this blog for a while, you’ll already know how much I adore quotes. Thank you so much for tagging me, Liz! Make sure you all take some time to go check out her blog. 🙂 ❤
“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
– Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
Ioana @ Dragon Waffles
Cher @ Laces and Books
Nada @ Early Bookish Birds
Spin the Golden Light Bulb by Jackie Yeager
My Rating: 2.5/5 TARDISes
Series: The Crimson Five #1
Date Published: January 9th, 2018
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing
Pages: 280 pages
Source: Publisher
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: It’s the year 2071 and eleven year-old Kia Krumpet is determined to build her 67 inventions, but she won’t have the opportunity to unless she earns a spot at PIPS, the Piedmont Inventor’s Prep School. Kia, who has trouble making friends at school, has dreamed of winning the Piedmont Challenge and attending PIPS ever since she learned that her Grandma Kitty won the very first Piedmont Challenge. After she and four of her classmates are selected to compete for a spot at PIPS, they travel by aero-bus to Camp Piedmont to solve a task against forty-nine other state teams to earn their place at the best inventor’s school in the country.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
The first part of this review is completely spoiler-free. There are very minor and vague spoilers in the second part of this review.
Spin the Golden Light Bulb is a debut middle grade novel centering around the brilliant minds of a group of young inventors. It touches on topics such as teamwork, forgiveness, and loyalty, and how to include those values in the achievement of personal goals in the area of one’s passion. It encourages having a mind that is open to all possibilities and to the acceptance of other people. Images of strong relationships—both with friends and family—and learning to come together to achieve a goal in a fair and inclusive way emanate from every page. This is a delightfully wholesome novel for young readers that stresses some incredibly important and positive messages.
In this novel, we are transported to the year 2071, and follow an eleven-year-old girl named Kia Krumpet. Kia is desperate to earn a spot at Piedmont Inventor’s Prep School—or PIPS—so she can begin working on her sixty-seven inventions. But in order to secure her place at PIPS, she must first win a Golden Light Bulb in the Piedmont Challenge, a feat that has not yet been accomplished by any student at Crimson Elementary. If she doesn’t, she will have to choose one category of study to dedicate the next six years of her schooling to, none of which would allow her to achieve her dreams.
After Kia and four of her classmates end up winning the chance to compete for enrollment in PIPS, they travel to Camp Piedmont, where the next phase of the challenge is to begin. There, everyone competing is split into groups and are given a task that they need to solve through the creation of a unique invention. Kia’s group—The Crimson Five—must contend with teams from forty-nine other states and build something that will prove that they have the talent necessary to earn a place at the best inventor’s school in the entire country.
Forming strong, healthy relationships with others is a key part of this narrative. There are many internal obstacles that Kia and the others must overcome in order to accept each other for the way they are. In addition, we are shown the importance of being one’s self and staying true to one’s values. There were times where I felt that Kia was maybe being a bit too immature compared to how she presents herself most of the time. However, this ended up highlighting how much she changes and matures throughout the course of the narrative.
Yeager’s writing itself is very strong and easy to read. Her voice is absolutely perfect for the age of the readers this novel is meant for. She does a brilliant job of vividly creating a fun and distinctive world that stimulates the imagination. The technology is very unique and exciting to envision—almost magical. Yeager’s characters are multi-dimensional and clearly evolve through all the obstacles they must face. The way she portrays the team gradually learning to work together as well as forming trust and, ultimately, close friendships is fantastic.
One problem that I had with the plot of the novel was with the believability of the team’s first approach to creating their major invention. These kids are supposed to be some of the brightest minds in the country, capable of not only building, but imagining all types of gadgets and groundbreaking technology that will power the advancement of society.
Kia’s previous ideas for her own personal inventions are complex and innovative, and they show off her natural skill and remarkable intellect. However, what the team eventual decides on for their major invention is honestly pretty disappointing. It just felt as if they were not showing much if any of the amazing talent that they all clearly possess. It’s hard to believe that their big idea would manifest in the form that it does.
Now, please bear with me for this next part. I do realize how silly this is going to sound since this is a middle grade novel, so I apologize in advance.
I’m left feeling conflicted over my biggest issue with the plot—the ultimate invention they create for the contest. At first it feels like a really neat idea, giving us a unique way to look into the past and learn in detail about any person in history. Being able to essentially bring the past back to life and explore any individual’s role in society would be incredible. However, the invention itself quickly takes a turn for the worse, feeling quite creepy and disturbing rather than uniquely fascinating.
There is a fine line between innocently gaining knowledge and invading privacy, and this quickly descends into the latter category. It becomes particularly concerning when Kia and the rest of the team use their invention multiple times to access records of things like private phone conversations and incredibly personal information.
Everyone’s right to privacy is a very topical discussion, and this novel is an eerily realistic potential future. This story raises the question of what parts of our lives are acceptable to be made public in a database and what parts should be kept out. It delves into an extremely morally gray area under the guise of a fun and innovative creation by a group of highly intelligent young minds.
On top of all this, they don’t actually come up with any of the real mechanics of the invention—they end up taking a previous team’s creation and dressing it up a little bit. That left me feeling very disappointed, as it completely wipes out the most important messages Yeager is trying to convey through this story. The importance of thinking outside the box, being creative, and achieving a goal through teamwork cannot possibly be shown through what they end up doing. Even the initial project they come up with at least demonstrated those themes much better.
Are these things that a young reader in this book’s target age range would notice? Most likely not. These thoughts are just a mixture of my typical over-thinking and my admittedly very cynical adult view of the world. I am definitely not the right audience for this particular novel and I completely realize that.
Overall, this is a good book for children in the range of maybe eight to eleven. It promotes topics that are essential to learn from a young age, and this story is an imaginative and entertaining way to encourage people to open their minds to all possibilities and understand that they all have the ability to do great things. This is not a novel that will necessarily be enjoyable to people of any age, but I would recommend this to young readers due to the positivity of most of the messages at the center of this story.
The Elizas by Sara Shepard
My Rating: 3.5/5 TARDISes
Series: Standalone
Date Published: April 17th, 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 352 pages
Source: Netgalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: When debut novelist Eliza Fontaine is found at the bottom of a hotel pool, her family at first assumes that it’s just another failed suicide attempt. But Eliza swears she was pushed, and her rescuer is the only witness.
Desperate to find out who attacked her, Eliza takes it upon herself to investigate. But as the publication date for her novel draws closer, Eliza finds more questions than answers. Like why are her editor, agent, and family mixing up events from her novel with events from her life? Her novel is completely fictional, isn’t it?
The deeper Eliza goes into her investigation while struggling with memory loss, the closer her life starts to resemble her novel until the line between reality and fiction starts to blur and she can no longer tell where her protagonist’s life ends and hers begins.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
This is a spoiler-free review.
Though I’ve known about her work for years, this is the first novel by Sara Shepard that I’ve ever read—and I ended up being pleasantly surprised by this particular story. It is a pretty solid young adult thriller. Being quite a huge fan of suspenseful mysteries—particularly any type with unreliable or biased narrators—this caught my attention immediately. I am much more used to reading adult psychological thrillers, and this is not quite on par with the plot structure and intensity of many of those. As it is a young adult novel, it is a bit less complex and much lighter, so it’s important to note that going in. However, The Elizas is an entertaining and heart-pounding story that is sure to hook its intended audience.
In this novel, we follow a young woman named Eliza Fontaine, a debut novelist whose book release date is rapidly approaching. But life takes a strange turn when she is pulled from the bottom of a hotel pool. Her family believes it to be just another suicide attempt—she insists it was an attempted murder. With only one person on her side, and what seems like the whole world trying to convince her she’s just insane, Eliza must investigate the attack herself.
However, as she struggles to regain lost memories, every avenue she explores only ends up raising even more questions. And suddenly, her novel is starting to sound less like a story and more like her life. Told in chapters that alternate between Eliza’s point of view and excerpts from her book, The Dots, the parallels become undeniable, and the line between reality and fiction becomes increasingly blurry.
I’ll admit, it took me quite some time to fully immerse myself in this novel. The first half of Eliza’s story plays out very slowly, and is often times extremely repetitive. This makes sense in the grand scheme of things, since we are primarily dealing with her attempting to regain memories she cannot seem to unlock. But I still feel that her plotline is in need of more events—however small—to help us become more invested in her as a character. For awhile, I found myself being much more interested in the excerpts from The Dots instead of the main storyline, though both are equally important.
The narrative came across as a bit choppy to me in the beginning—it feels like things are repeating and going nowhere, there is a sudden heightening of the tension, and then we are back to the same circumstances. This is obviously congruent with the situation of someone dealing with memory loss, so I completely understand the effect that Shepard is going for. However, I do wish there had been a tiny bit more added to Eliza’s experiences, just to gradually pull the reader deeper into her life throughout the novel as a whole.
Unreliable narrators are, by nature, inconsistent, and always add a good amount of confusion into the process of getting to know who they are, as well as what is truly going on. Eliza is especially unpredictable all the way through—but at the start, her personality comes across like Shepard can’t decide what to do with her instead of what might be naturally erratic for her mental state. In general, though, I do think Shepard really captures and deals with all the physical and mental health aspects of this novel clearly and believably.
Even with the initial lagging of the main plotline, Shepard manages to build quite a lot of suspense in both stories. She sprinkles just enough intrigue into most of the early chapters, and I was always at least a little curious to find out what would happen next. The switching between Eliza’s point of view and the excerpts from The Dots added a great deal to the tension building up as things progressed. And, despite it being a little rocky at first, I did consistently become more and more hooked.
That second half though—oh boy. I was absolutely riveted to every page. Every aspect of the story escalates so quickly, and even though I had predicted some of the ending, it still had me on the edge of my seat. For me, Shepard ended in the strongest way possible—she made every last bit pack a punch, and threw in a few surprisingly powerful twists. Though it is not hard to guess most of what is going on and roughly how things will shake out, there are plenty of details that you most likely will not see coming. That, coupled with the strength of the overall reveal, truly enriches the novel as a whole.
Shepard also does a relatively good job with her character creation. They are all very clearly described and, aside from Eliza, have static personalities the whole way through. This means that not all of the characters are very multi-dimensional, but they are still depicted well and fit very nicely into the plot. Eliza is definitely a dynamic character—our view of her is constantly changing and building until everything is fully revealed in the end. And the majority of the relationships between Eliza and the others are highly realistic and comprehensible.
The one element that I never got fully on board with was the romance. In the first place, it was a severe case of insta-love. When they first meet, Eliza goes from describing him like he is sort of gross and creepy to abruptly feeling incredibly turned on basically by her sudden thought of them having sex. Over the short time they initially spend together, she goes back to showing little interest in him, while he is awkwardly proclaiming his undying love for her. And voila, they are now a couple. Though their relationship was sweeter toward the end, I spent most of it trying to comprehend how it happened, while occasionally feeling mildly disturbed.
I found Shepard’s writing style to be fairly strong. It didn’t particularly stand out or completely captivate me, but it flows well for the narrative she weaves and is very easy to read. She crafts a good mystery, following up on all the various threads to the point were I couldn’t personally think of anything left completely unexplained. Shepard also writes very cinematically—her descriptions are vivid, and the interactions between characters were stellar. We are able to clearly visualize everything playing out, and distinctly feel the clarity that Eliza is slowly experiencing.
Overall, if this sounds good to you—or if you’re looking for a quick thriller—I would highly recommend giving this novel a try, especially if you are a young adult reader. While, like I said, it’s not going to have the intensity and depth of an adult psychological thriller, and it isn’t entirely unpredictable, it really does have a lot going for it. It is gripping enough to pull a mystery fan in, and just chilling enough to make for an entertaining read. As for me, I ended up enjoying this story more than I thought I would, and I am definitely interested in reading some more of Shepard’s work.
The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One by Amanda Lovelace
My Rating: 3/5 TARDISes
Series: Women Are Some Kind of Magic #2
Date Published: March 6th, 2018
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Pages: 208 pages
Source: Netgalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: 2016 Goodreads Choice Award-winning poet Amanda Lovelace returns in the witch doesn’t burn in this one — the bold second book in her “women are some kind of magic” series.
The witch: supernaturally powerful, inscrutably independent, and now—indestructible. These moving, relatable poems encourage resilience and embolden women to take control of their own stories. Enemies try to judge, oppress, and marginalize her, but the witch doesn’t burn in this one.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Unfortunately, this collection of poetry ended up really disappointing me. After the fantastic first collection, The Princess Saves Herself in This One, I felt rather let down by this one. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoyed it quite a bit, but I didn’t think it was on par with Lovelace’s previous work. Her first collection tells a story of her life—a personal journey of discovery with messages that evoke intense and relatable emotions. Alongside these poems, there is a loose fairytale-type narrative going on at the end of each section, and they reflect every part of her journey.
That same format of the background story is true for this collection, but the poems deal with broader topics, so they don’t have that same intimate quality as her previous poetry. Lovelace deals with some incredibly tough matters here, and she does so in a very eye-opening way. However, though I of course applaud the fact that she is speaking out on these subjects, I just personally did not feel as emotionally invested in the poems, and I found them a bit repetitive at times.
One of the things that still rings true in this collection is Lovelace’s incredible talent for writing beautiful and impactful poetry. Though these particular poems did not resonate with me quite as much as her others, her words are still extremely powerful and relatable. Everything she has to say is thought-provoking and empowering, but the messages she is trying to convey come across as somewhat one-sided at times.
She has a very strong feminist voice, though I felt that she approached the topic in more of an all-or-nothing style rather than speaking in an equal and balanced way. Feminism, and any type of empowerment movement in general, should not focus on being dominant over others, but should instead focus on creating equality among all. I still do very much enjoy Lovelace’s poetry, so I definitely plan on continuing to read her work in the future.
Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen
My Rating: 4/5 TARDISes
Series: Sarah’s Scribbles #3
Date Published: March 27th, 2018
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Pages: 108 pages
Source: Netgalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: Sarah valiantly struggles with waking up in the morning, being productive, and dealing with social situations.
Sarah’s Scribbles is the comic strip that follows her life, finding humor in living as an adulting introvert that is at times weird, awkward, and embarrassing.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
This is the third installment in the Sarah’s Scribbles series of graphic novels and, like the first two, it is another hilarious and adorable book. She always creates such charming and relatable comics that are bound to make you laugh, especially if you see yourself in her work. Andersen’s endearing art and witty text combine to tell a story of the daily struggle to “adult” from the point of view of an introvert. And, as I definitely fall into this category, you can understand just how much I relate to her experiences.
These are always short, fast reads that unfailingly lift my spirits and put me in a better mood. Andersen makes us look at ourselves and our various quirks by opening up about her life and who she is. Never once have I had trouble connecting the topics she focuses on to my personal life experiences and behavior.
Apart from the hilarity of it all, it does serve another purpose in my opinion. While everything about this book is pretty light and fluffy, it still reminds you that you are not alone in this world—you are not alone in the way you feel. And it teaches the most important lesson of all—the best way to deal with the difficult things in our lives, and really any aspect in general, is to combat them with a great sense of humor.
It’s Funny Until Someone Loses an Eye (Then It’s Really Funny) by Kurt Luchs
My Rating: 3/5 TARDISes
Series: Standalone
Date Published: November 1st, 2017
Publisher: Sagging Meniscus Press
Pages: 210 pages
Source: Netgalley
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: Fiction. This collection of stories by Kurt Luchs pursues its comedic quarry with the ruthlessness of a pussycat trying to get out of a cardboard box. Luchs, who has written for august literary organs such as The Onion, The New Yorker, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and even been published by some of them, is an inspired comic writer in the tradition of P.J. Wodehouse, S.J. Perelman, and Woody Allen, for whom not only the world but language itself is a source of constant delight. Even the hilarity he generates is not an end in itself; the convulsing diaphragms of his laughing readers are in his hands a remotely operated musical instrument bridging the woodwind and percussion sections.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
This book is a collection of standalone outrageous and comical essays and stories. I love reading, watching, and listening to anything humorous. Comedy is important these days—we all need to be able to laugh with all the insanity going on around us! And I have an extremely random, sarcastic, and silly sense of humor. However, this collection actually ended up being a bit too random and bizarre even for me, which was a huge surprise. Don’t get me wrong, there were a number of funny stories in this compilation, but there were also plenty that I just didn’t find much humor in. Even the stories that did crack me up were not “laugh-out-loud” funny—they were just okay.
Unfortunately, I ended up feeling rather unsatisfied overall with this collection. I was eager to read it, and maybe I went in with higher expectations than I should have—this was my first experience with Luchs’ writing. Though it did get some laughs out of me, none of the stories really stood out to me, and even now, I can’t remember much of them. There were some parts that did connect with me and my cynical and silly style of humor, but I wish it had been a little bit more consistent all the way through. In the end, it was a bit slow to get through and not as memorable as I had hoped, but it still provided me with a bit of comedy.
The Last Time I’ll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza
My Rating: 3/5 TARDISes
Series: Standalone
Date Published: January 30th, 2018
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Pages: 176 pages
Source: Netgalley
Synopsis: The Last Time I’ll Write About You is popular Filipino YA and romance writer Dawn Lanuza’s debut collection of poetry. Featuring beautiful, relatable poems about first love, this book is the perfect companion for anyone who has loved, lost, and emerged anew.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
The main focus of this particular collection is love, relationships ending, and the power every human has to process the grief and recover from it. Lanuza’s words truly show the strength and skill we all have inside that allows us to build ourselves back up again after we break apart. She writes short and simple poems that she injects with more depth despite their size—and she has quite a beautiful style of writing.
However, there were only a handful of poems that really stood out among the rest for me. Other than that—while well written—many seemed too reminiscent of the typical poems written in this newly popular style of very short but powerful poetry. That style didn’t always work out in her favor.
I also feel as though I might not have gotten everything out of these poems that I should have. While I could recognize the emotion and power in Lanuza’s words, I couldn’t quite connect properly to many of the topics and themes that spoke on romantic love. I have very limited personal experience in that area, so it was hard to relate on that front.
However, the message of strength through grief is something that I can apply to other parts of my life—such as a loved one passing away—and with that in mind, I felt the impact of her words slightly more. Though this particular collection did not blow me away, it still made for a fairly interesting read. I would recommend giving it a try and seeing if and how these poems speak to you.
Hey Everyone!
First of all, I want to start by welcoming all of my most recent followers! Thank you so much for joining all of us here. I’m really looking forward to talking with you guys! ❤
I’m a bit late with this post since we are already a little way into the season, but better late than never! Spring has arrived—though it was snowing here last night—and with it comes a ton of amazing new releases. There are a lot that I am hoping to pick up throughout the next few months, but here are a few that I am most excited to get my hands on. 😀
Shortly after saving the faeries of Skemantis, magician’s apprentice Felix Carmer III and his faerie companion, Grit, head out to see the world. They soon come across a mysteriously magical flying circus. As they get to know the outlandish world of Rinka Tinka’s Roving Wonder Show, it becomes clear there’s something not quite normal about this circus or its inventor—and that recent airship disasters plaguing nearby Driftside City may have a sinister explanation.
Fans of the Wildwood trilogy and Lockwood & Co. series will love the thrills and chills of The Crooked Castle as it takes readers up in the air with a flying circus, under the sea to the evil Unseelie kingdom, through a terrifying magical snowstorm, and on a chase with the menacing Wild Hunt.
Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…
and secrets hide in every shadow.
Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.
Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn’t have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne’s offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems.
Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi’s enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…
And she’ll need to play.
Josie and Alec both live at 444 Sparrow Street. They sleep in the same room, but they’ve never laid eyes on each other. They are twelve years old but a hundred years apart.
The children meet through a handpainted spirit board—Josie in 1915, Alec in 2015—and form a friendship across the century that separates them. But a chain of events leave Josie and her little sister Cass trapped in the house and afraid for their safety, and Alec must find out what’s going to happen to them. Can he help them change their future when it’s already past?
The Boy from Tomorrow is a tribute to classic English fantasy novels like Tom’s Midnight Garden and A Traveller in Time. Through their impossible friendship, Alec and Josie learn that life can offer only what they ask of it.
On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
From the author of Lost Boy comes a historical fairy tale about a mermaid who leaves the sea for love and later finds herself in P.T. Barnum’s American Museum as the real Fiji mermaid. However, leaving the museum may be harder than leaving the sea ever was.
Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn’t bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return.
P.T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he’d heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.
Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he’s determined to hold on to his mermaid.
What books are you looking forward to picking up over the next few months?
Let me know in the comments!
The Crooked Castle by Sarah Jean Horwitz
My Rating: 5/5 TARDISes
Series: Carmer and Grit #2
Date Published: April 10th, 2018
Publisher: Algonquin Young Readers
Pages: 368 pages
Source: Publisher
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository
Synopsis: Shortly after saving the faeries of Skemantis, magician’s apprentice Felix Carmer III and his faerie companion, Grit, head out to see the world. They soon come across a mysteriously magical flying circus. As they get to know the outlandish world of Rinka Tinka’s Roving Wonder Show, it becomes clear there’s something not quite normal about this circus or its inventor—and that recent airship disasters plaguing nearby Driftside City may have a sinister explanation.
Fans of the Wildwood trilogy and Lockwood & Co. series will love the thrills and chills of The Crooked Castle as it takes readers up in the air with a flying circus, under the sea to the evil Unseelie kingdom, through a terrifying magical snowstorm, and on a chase with the menacing Wild Hunt.
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*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
This is a spoiler-free review.
This is one of those novels that is very challenging to review because of how much I loved it—I have absolutely no idea where to start. At the beginning of last year, I read the first book in this series, The Wingsnatchers, and it quickly ended up becoming one of my all-time favorites. The Crooked Castle was, by far, my most anticipated book of this year, and I was not disappointed in the least. This novel is equally as charming, thrilling, and heartwarming as the last. I so enjoyed returning to this beautifully crafted world and following the adventures of this incredible cast of characters. This novel is pure magic.
We begin following Carmer and Grit not long after their heroic acts in Skemantis, as they set out on their journey to see the world. Though they are pursuing adventure, it usually finds them first—and this time around, it literally comes crashing into their lives in the form of a balloon and its balloonist, Bell Daisimer. Bell joins the pair in order to get to a city where he can find the necessary parts to repair his balloon, but his stay is not quite as temporary as they all expect.
They soon discover a glider mixed up in the remnants of Bell’s balloon, and inside the glider is an exclusive invitation to Rinka Tinka’s Roving Wonder Show—a massive flying circus. Upon arrival in Driftside City, and after gaining access to the Wonder Show, it becomes apparent that there is more to this flying circus than meets the eye. Everything appears to be much more mysterious—and decidedly too magical—than they ever could have anticipated.
To top it off, they learn of a whole slew of unexplained airship disasters that have recently been plaguing the city. In their attempts to investigate just what is behind these accidents and the inner workings of the show itself, they stumble across dark secrets and a lot of wicked Unseelie fairies as they attempt to save the lives of their newfound friends, as well as their own.
I completely devoured this novel. It immediately pulled me in, swept me away on an adventure, and melted my heart once again. Taking place in a steampunk world and packed with lovable characters, amazing inventions, and enchanting magical elements, it is such an utterly charming read. The narrative is incredibly fast-paced and exciting, with new twists and turns constantly popping up. Each page makes you eager to get to the next, and I found it difficult to put down.
Reading this story was an absolute joy–there is such a nostalgic tone to it for me. It made me feel so warm and comforted, as though it had wrapped itself around me like a cozy blanket. That is the same pleasant sense so many of my favorite books from my childhood evoked, and I love that I can still reflect on and experience that today due to novels like these. I can see myself cherishing these stories for a long time.
Horwitz’s remarkable talent for storytelling stands out even more than it did before. Her description and world-building are top-notch and her words flow flawlessly from page to page. Every single part of this story is crafted so meticulously, down to the most minor details, and filled with a tone that sparks that childlike sense of wonder. She knows exactly how to unfold fascinating stories, brimming with elements similar to those of a classic tale. It is easy to see the appeal of her work and nearly impossible not to feel a connection to it on some level.
The characters are one of the most wonderful aspects of this story. Whether they are lovable or despicable, they are so vivid. I love the fact that we are able to see more of Carmer and Grit’s friendship and how it has progressed since the last novel. They are a perfect pairing and complement each other so well. And I absolutely adored the new additions to the cast, particularly Bell and another character that enters closer to the end (no spoilers!). Everyone is so fleshed out and multi-dimensional, so it is hard not to become emotionally invested in them and their lives—they will work their way into your heart.
Horwitz seamlessly captivates her readers by making her work accessible to all generations. It is hard not to get caught up in this fantastical world—the type that fuels your imagination and feeds your soul. She not only has a huge amount of talent as a writer, but she is also extremely gifted when it comes to writing fresh, unique stories that still retain that timeless, fairytale-like quality. She is truly doing what she is clearly meant to do by writing these types of novels, and I am completely blown away by what she has created.
Overall, I wholeheartedly adored this novel and never wanted it to end. It met and exceeded all of my expectations, and I was completely enthralled all the way through. Just like the previous installment, Horwitz has produced a story that—while targeted at a middle grade audience—is universally enjoyable, spanning every age group. This novel is an absolute masterpiece and will undoubtedly touch the hearts of every reader. I very highly recommend diving into this enchanting world, and I hope there will be more stories to come in the near future.
The Quirky Book Nerd 