Emily

This has been my favorite fantasy world since I first read it, and it stands up to rereads. 4.5 stars only because the latter two in the series are better.

Equal parts hilarious and infuriating. 5 stars.

I was a little concerned at first since the first chapter was very basic for my knowledge level, however once it got into the creatures, I learned a lot. I particularly liked the emphasis on tracing how the folklore changed over time. I would have liked to see more creatures included, but that's a minor complaint.

I found it rather heavy handed with the message, though I think that's more because I am older than the target audience than because it's actually an issue. The weird romance was totally out of place and rather counter to the rest of the message that was being so heavily beaten over our heads, so that was an odd choice. I can only conclude that someone in the publishing house said that all books aimed at teen girls have to have romance in them. On the plus side, it was very hard to put down.

One of my all time favorites.