Rhiannon
Now, I’m not the target audience here. But it was absolutely insisted by a 12-year-old relative that I unconditionally HAD to read this book, and she promptly lent me her copy, along with its sequel. It’s been a long while since I’ve visited a book (that would be way back when Potter first arrived) that goes for the ‘tween’ demographic. That term was nowhere near in use when I actually fit that age category. And honestly, I was reading some pretty advanced books for my age (Dune, The Silmarillion, Thomas Covenant, and a bunch of wildly inappropriate horror by 12), so it probably wouldn’t have mattered much to me at the time, regardless.
Anyway. I digress.
Turns out my cynical, sardonic soul can still be charmed by childhood adventures. And this book was an absolute delight of surprisingly sophisticated, but not excessively so, writing. The turns of phrase and humour made me giggle. The imagination was excellent and I really appreciated the author’s use of a mix of mythical creatures in a hidden archipelago of islands on earth. The illustrations were positively enticing. This is the kind of thing that would have sent me spinning off to a library to research every creature and critter she mentions to find out its history and that would have led me to reading mythology, etc. Which is kinda what happened when I became obsessed with Harryhousen movies as a child. The book is strongly reminiscent of Earthsea and Potter and a smidge of Lewis and Pullman thrown in as well.
I rather enjoyed this sweet journey into childhood. It was a marvelous and memorable adventure and I guess I will have to listen to more 12-year-olds’ book recs!
Originally posted at www.amazon.ca.
Now, I’m not the target audience here. But it was absolutely insisted by a 12-year-old relative that I unconditionally HAD to read this book, and she promptly lent me her copy, along with its sequel. It’s been a long while since I’ve visited a book (that would be way back when Potter first arrived) that goes for the ‘tween’ demographic. That term was nowhere near in use when I actually fit that age category. And honestly, I was reading some pretty advanced books for my age (Dune, The Silmarillion, Thomas Covenant, and a bunch of wildly inappropriate horror by 12), so it probably wouldn’t have mattered much to me at the time, regardless.
Anyway. I digress.
Turns out my cynical, sardonic soul can still be charmed by childhood adventures. And this book was an absolute delight of surprisingly sophisticated, but not excessively so, writing. The turns of phrase and humour made me giggle. The imagination was excellent and I really appreciated the author’s use of a mix of mythical creatures in a hidden archipelago of islands on earth. The illustrations were positively enticing. This is the kind of thing that would have sent me spinning off to a library to research every creature and critter she mentions to find out its history and that would have led me to reading mythology, etc. Which is kinda what happened when I became obsessed with Harryhousen movies as a child. The book is strongly reminiscent of Earthsea and Potter and a smidge of Lewis and Pullman thrown in as well.
I rather enjoyed this sweet journey into childhood. It was a marvelous and memorable adventure and I guess I will have to listen to more 12-year-olds’ book recs!
Originally posted at www.amazon.ca.