Darkness has come to Fablehaven, with many creatures being turned from light to dark.
What I Liked
There are almost three stories working at once, which adds to the complexity – Seth running around being annoying and self-centred in the Preserve; Kendra going to another Preserve on a quest; and a giant battle at the end that seems almost Lord-of-the-Rings-like.
What I Didn’t Like
The three stories are not well-integrated, and could really stand alone. Seth is still being annoyingly self-centred to drive plot devices along, and I don’t know if the author wants us to see him as brave or just stupid. Things tend to work out, but they would have been better if he did nothing. There are also a LOT of characters to keep track of in each segment.
Kendra and Seth start to receive their training from three experts on how to protect the Preserve.
What I Liked
The three experts and their specializations are pretty cool, all with slightly different skills and personalities. And the finale seems like a solid “Indiana Jones” challenge.
What I Didn’t Like
The book is a lot slower than the first, and while Seth isn’t quite as annoying, the ending reads almost like a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (series of chambers, different puzzles) and the main protagonist, Kendra, is relatively an observer for most of it while others do the heavy lifting.
Kendra and her brother Seth protect a magical preserve against dark forces.
What I Liked
Like most stories of youth being exposed to magic for the first time, there is a healthy skepticism like they’re being punked. What differed in this one is that the initial intro is one mostly of light and wonder, not darkness and fear. Kendra and Seth want to explore and see all the wonderful things, without first encountering people trying to kill them. The darkness is revealed more slowly. And so you share that burgeoning love and mystery. I also like the funnier moments, a bit like the humour in some of the Percy Jackson series more so than the constant impending doom in Harry Potter.
What I Didn’t Like
Seth is annoying. Most of the early plot developments are because he doesn’t listen to his grandfather, constantly screws something up, and even after suffering consequences, does similar things again. Separate from being annoying, it seems incredibly repetitive too.
The Bottom Line
A nice preserve to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
The year is 2098 and the world government has decided to close the last library and destroy all the remaining books.
What I Liked
The basic premise of everything having gone digital, the creation of world governments, and a plague that wiped out most of humanity fifty years before was intriguing. Equally, the idea of the “last library” on Earth being a large structure in Portland was kind of quirky, with two others having been closed in Australia and Europe. And the last librarian wanting to save the books was wrapped in a larger mystery about the content of the digital book copies being changed. Very 1984ish or Brave New World.
What I Didn’t Like
The main character is not very strong, and it is hard to root for him as the “last librarian”. But the book tells you it repeatedly so you don’t forget. There is also no explanation of why it is the Portland library that remains, as opposed to the Library of Congress or something similar, but that’s quibbling. It’s large, but hardly the Library of Alexandria. The story also can hardly go 3 or 4 pages without throwing in a literary quote, all from books already written now (i.e., nothing quoted from the next 50 years, although writing continues) and mostly in the 1900s and American. But it was an “okay” book, with enough mystery to keep me going to the end, probably a 3 rating overall (good). But the ending has a major PoV problem that is typical of beginner writers, and provides no closure to the story. Sure, it’s part of a planned trilogy, but the story can’t even stand on its own as a one-third portion. The whole component they were dealing with basically shifts to being almost a non-story. If it wasn’t on my tablet, I would have thrown it across the room. The only “upside” was that it was a Prime Reading selection so it was free. I will not be continuing for two more books.
A fictionalized “true” story of the author observing a brilliant detective attempting to solve the murder of a woman who went to plan her funeral and was murdered the same day.
What I Liked
The premise of the story of the woman planning her funeral and then being murdered was a great Agatha Christie-style plot, more so than Sherlock Holmes. Yet the writing arrangement of Horowitz as Watson and Hawthrone as Holmes works reasonably well, even if Hawthorne is more prickly and flawed. Lots of different characters to meet. While I figured out several red herrings and had most of the clues assembled at the end, I didn’t quite interpret them the way the final answer is given.
What I Didn’t Like
There are three things in the story that bothered me. First and foremost, Horowitz has inserted himself as the narrator as if the premise is real. It’s a bit gimmicky, but if you ignore that, and treat it as if it was a fictionalized person, the premise works okay but not great. Yet, as a result, he pulls in various people he knows in real life, and, of course, they are treated with kid gloves. All positive words, meeting people like Spielberg for instance, so no chance he might be sued. Second, Horowitz or his fictionalized version is downright whiny. He complains about everything. He reads like a self-righteous child in many places. Third, there is a premise introduced very early on, and not only does it not play out the way it was described, the real explanation is done only through assumption and speculation. It didn’t feel like the book played fair with that clue or the character. Equally, the ending has a lot of exposition that implies “this is the only explanation” but there were several other equally plausible solutions.
The Bottom Line
Interesting premise, average mystery, soft ending.
