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faithl's review
4.0
WOO HOO!!!
Another fantastic book with even more drama, confusing romantic relationships and inter-worldly awesomeness!!!
There's something intriguing about this series. The covers are not fantastic (as my best friend points out every time I take out the book) and the premise is certainly original but there's just this sparkle that draws you in every single time you read it. The writing is so amazingly different and nothing about the book's characters or plot is bland.
Now let's talk about specifics. In this book, more eesh happens. We learn that the royal family is in The World, Princess Ko gets even more crazier and desperate, Elliot's hotness is described in even more detail and Madeleine learns that she is not the centre of the world.
It was super nerve wracking and exciting to see Elliot and Madeleine slowly discover ways around the crack - a lot of it science that I did not understand (there is a reason I dropped all Sciences). But nevertheless, it was exciting to see science come together with the simple act of believing. It was the perfect combination of science and fantasy. Whilst this happens, there is a growing connection (and romance?) between Elliot and Madeleine. I shipped them so hard but what was so different in this book was hoe the romance was written. You know in a book, especially in a YA one, you 100% know when the characters belong with each other and are totally going to get together? Well, in this one you have no idea. I shipped Elliot and Madeleine together but I never knew if that was how Moriarty wrote them. I kind of liked it though. She let us understand their relationship in our own way through the ambiguous way she wrote them.
Also because that whole Keira and Elliot scene totally threw me off.
Princess Ko was freaky AF in this book. She was this super agro blonde chick. Yeah I know, her family is missing but seriously, she could've toned it down. What did I think of Kiera? I mean, I liked her and I could totally relate to the fact that she has acne but she was strange. She was a night owl (like me) but everything about her was overly intense. Samuel was just annoying in general and by the end of it, I didn't feel much for him. I just ignored him as a character (um, oops?)
SPOILERS: (SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVEN'T READ)
Holy. Crap. Elliot is in The World now!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! But I'm kind of suspicious of his dad. I think there's some sort of conspiracy and that Denny is part of the Hostiles. Hmmm, some iffy things are going on....
All in all, a great sequel!!! It is definitely a memorable series with underrated hype. Seriously, how is this not the biggest series at the moment?! Come one on people!!! It needs more hype!!!
brandypainter's review
5.0
Originally posted here at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
When I read A Corner of White last year, I was instantly transported and enchanted by the concept and characters. I know not everyone felt the same. That book is divisive. I don't think reading The Cracks in the Kingdom will change the minds of those who didn't like it. For those who did like the first book, the second is even better, building on the story in the first and expanding it.
This review is based on an ARC received from the publisher.
This is a hard review to write because I don't want to say too much. As the first, this is sort of an experience you have to have yourself. There are some things I want to highlight though.
The world that Moriarty created and introduced in the first book is just as vivid and real in this one. Cello is such a concrete place for me, and continues to be even more concrete than our real world which Madeleine lives in. Cello is where the more interesting parts of the story take place too. The politics of that world are snarled and growing more snarled by the day. As I love a good political intrigue book, this made me a happy reader. The Youth Alliance Elliot finds himself a part of to help find the princess's family has some volatile dynamics. I really liked how very much the members acted their age though. They are amazingly gifted, and yet they are all under 16 and you can clearly see that in their interactions and the things they get up to.
Madeleine is working diligently in the world, trying to find the missing royals. Again, the interactions between Madeleine and Elliot are crucial to the flow and movement of the story. They are exchanging notes more quickly until they are real time conversations. They are also attempting to widen the crack and break through to figure out how to return the royals. In the process they are discovering each other slowly and it is a beautiful thing to see unfold. I couldn't help but be reminded of how relationships that begin online unfold as I was reading it. The way they make assumptions about each other's looks and habits, building whole people out of the spaces between words on paper. And slowly they are drawing closer to that moment when they may have to confront the reality of each other. So fascinating and emotionally riveting. They experience and share so much together and they've never even met.
Just as the world of Cello seems more concrete, so does Elliot as a character. Not that I think Madeleine is flat or insubstantial. Quite the contrary, but I do feel like she is shrouded in a lot more mystery. We get a clearer picture of Jack and Belle and their pasts, but not Madeleine's. I'm beginning to wonder about that, but feel the obvious conclusion is so obvious it must not be the right one. So now I'm trying to come up with alternate conclusions, and this is one of the things I love most about these books. They exercise my mind and keep me thinking about them. They pretty much take over. I have dreams about aspects of them. That is a wonderful sort of book to read. Elliot shows more and more what a true hero he is. He has so many flaws, but is so laudable at the same time. He is young too, and that was easier to overlook in the first book I think. His youth and everything he still has to figure out about the world is a little more obvious in this one.
There are couple plot points in this that took me by complete surprise and that hasn't happened to me in quite some time. Another reason I am so enamored. I absolutely can not wait for the third book. Sitting on pins and needles waiting for it.
I read ARC won from the publisher, Arthur Levine, in a Goodreads giveaway. The Cracks in the Kingdom is available on March 25.
When I read A Corner of White last year, I was instantly transported and enchanted by the concept and characters. I know not everyone felt the same. That book is divisive. I don't think reading The Cracks in the Kingdom will change the minds of those who didn't like it. For those who did like the first book, the second is even better, building on the story in the first and expanding it.
This review is based on an ARC received from the publisher.
This is a hard review to write because I don't want to say too much. As the first, this is sort of an experience you have to have yourself. There are some things I want to highlight though.
The world that Moriarty created and introduced in the first book is just as vivid and real in this one. Cello is such a concrete place for me, and continues to be even more concrete than our real world which Madeleine lives in. Cello is where the more interesting parts of the story take place too. The politics of that world are snarled and growing more snarled by the day. As I love a good political intrigue book, this made me a happy reader. The Youth Alliance Elliot finds himself a part of to help find the princess's family has some volatile dynamics. I really liked how very much the members acted their age though. They are amazingly gifted, and yet they are all under 16 and you can clearly see that in their interactions and the things they get up to.
Madeleine is working diligently in the world, trying to find the missing royals. Again, the interactions between Madeleine and Elliot are crucial to the flow and movement of the story. They are exchanging notes more quickly until they are real time conversations. They are also attempting to widen the crack and break through to figure out how to return the royals. In the process they are discovering each other slowly and it is a beautiful thing to see unfold. I couldn't help but be reminded of how relationships that begin online unfold as I was reading it. The way they make assumptions about each other's looks and habits, building whole people out of the spaces between words on paper. And slowly they are drawing closer to that moment when they may have to confront the reality of each other. So fascinating and emotionally riveting. They experience and share so much together and they've never even met.
Just as the world of Cello seems more concrete, so does Elliot as a character. Not that I think Madeleine is flat or insubstantial. Quite the contrary, but I do feel like she is shrouded in a lot more mystery. We get a clearer picture of Jack and Belle and their pasts, but not Madeleine's. I'm beginning to wonder about that, but feel the obvious conclusion is so obvious it must not be the right one. So now I'm trying to come up with alternate conclusions, and this is one of the things I love most about these books. They exercise my mind and keep me thinking about them. They pretty much take over. I have dreams about aspects of them. That is a wonderful sort of book to read. Elliot shows more and more what a true hero he is. He has so many flaws, but is so laudable at the same time. He is young too, and that was easier to overlook in the first book I think. His youth and everything he still has to figure out about the world is a little more obvious in this one.
There are couple plot points in this that took me by complete surprise and that hasn't happened to me in quite some time. Another reason I am so enamored. I absolutely can not wait for the third book. Sitting on pins and needles waiting for it.
I read ARC won from the publisher, Arthur Levine, in a Goodreads giveaway. The Cracks in the Kingdom is available on March 25.
fallingletters's review
3.0
Quick review originally posted 28 May 2014 on Falling Letters.
When the first book in this trilogy came out last year, I was ecstatic to hear it described as [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] meets [a:John Green|1406384|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353452301p2/1406384.jpg]. Moriarty is the only other YA author I adore aside from Green, and Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, so I was excited to see what she would conjure in the fantasy realm.
The first book felt to me like a prologue. The second book still feels the same way, although now I've finally realized that searching for the royal family is the whole plot, not just a little side story to be quickly resolved. To me, it feels like something is missing from these books. I can't get invested in the story. The book feels too long, too drawn out. But if you like Moriarty, and you like fantasy, I think you will still enjoy this book. And if you're like me, enticed by the idea of Gaiman+Green, do give it a shot!
I was a little disappointed at the typical teenager-y behaviour of the teenagers...this may sound like a silly complaint, but when compared to the teens of Moriarty's other work, the characters in this book felt more stereotypical, less developed. I was disappointed by the bickering between Madeleine and Elliot, and the immaturity of Princess Ko (although her behavior is realistic, given that she's lost her entire family). I don't really think the characters are badly or unbelievably written. They're just not what I've come to expect from Moriarty.
I love reading about the Kingdom of Cello and exploring its realms. I love how Moriarty handles magic. It feels fresh and exciting and I always wonder how it will factor into the story. The Lake of Spells was one of my favourite parts of the book.
When the first book in this trilogy came out last year, I was ecstatic to hear it described as [a:Neil Gaiman|1221698|Neil Gaiman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg] meets [a:John Green|1406384|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353452301p2/1406384.jpg]. Moriarty is the only other YA author I adore aside from Green, and Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, so I was excited to see what she would conjure in the fantasy realm.
The first book felt to me like a prologue. The second book still feels the same way, although now I've finally realized that searching for the royal family is the whole plot, not just a little side story to be quickly resolved. To me, it feels like something is missing from these books. I can't get invested in the story. The book feels too long, too drawn out. But if you like Moriarty, and you like fantasy, I think you will still enjoy this book. And if you're like me, enticed by the idea of Gaiman+Green, do give it a shot!
I was a little disappointed at the typical teenager-y behaviour of the teenagers...this may sound like a silly complaint, but when compared to the teens of Moriarty's other work, the characters in this book felt more stereotypical, less developed. I was disappointed by the bickering between Madeleine and Elliot, and the immaturity of Princess Ko (although her behavior is realistic, given that she's lost her entire family). I don't really think the characters are badly or unbelievably written. They're just not what I've come to expect from Moriarty.
I love reading about the Kingdom of Cello and exploring its realms. I love how Moriarty handles magic. It feels fresh and exciting and I always wonder how it will factor into the story. The Lake of Spells was one of my favourite parts of the book.
jameyanne's review
4.0
The difference between this second book and the first one is incredible. While i found the first book to be kind of meh on all fronts, this second book took off running and didn't stop. This is obviously the story jaclyn moriarty wanted to tell. And while i will say that this book does still suffer from the issue that madeleine's story is nowhere near as exciting as elliot's (indeed madeleine's part of the climax feels like fabricated/overly dramatized tension), there is also so much great stuff going on. I loved watching the growth of the characters, and i loved all the new characters and conflict. And the ending is a perfect storm of feels (warning it's a cliffhanger). Can't wait to start book 3!
aliceinbabylon's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Me gustó mucho, en especial los últimos capítulos, de verdad que dejan con ganas de leer el siguiente libro, pero, igual que en el anterior, hay partes que sentí que iban muy lentas y descripciones muy largas que me cansaban.
Aún así espero el siguiente, ojalá no tarde demasiado en salir.
Me gustó mucho, en especial los últimos capítulos, de verdad que dejan con ganas de leer el siguiente libro, pero, igual que en el anterior, hay partes que sentí que iban muy lentas y descripciones muy largas que me cansaban.
Aún así espero el siguiente, ojalá no tarde demasiado en salir.
fictionalkate's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best things that has happened to me in the past two years of blogging is discovering Jaclyn Moriarty’s books. She has a beautiful way of telling stories and this second book in the Colours of Madeline series did not disappoint.
Elliot Baranski, a boy who lives on a farm in a Kingdom named Cello, and Madeline Tully, a girl from the world we know in a city called Cambridge, are still communicating though a crack between the Kingdoms. A broken TV turned art installation and a malfunctioning parking meter allow the two to pass messages to and fro from Cello to Cambridge. Madeline is still not completely sure she believes the boy is real and the tales he tells about colours harming and seasons with minds of their own – but she lets best friends Belle and Jack in on the secret. Elliot is entrusted by the Princess to try to work out how to use the crack to bring her family back… that is if they are even there to begin with.
I love the characters in this series. They’re as vibrant as the colours which wreak havoc in the realm of Cello. Madeline is inquisitive and unwilling to take things on faith. She needs to find things out for herself and disbelieves things – even things in front of her very eyes – without some kind of scientific proof. Elliot is almost her opposite. He gives his all for everything he does and doesn’t do anything half-hearted. His belief in his family and himself is strong and he would do anything, sacrifice anything, for his loved ones. Where Madeline is theoretically based, Elliot is physical and spontaneous. They work well off each other despite being worlds apart – both physically and metaphorically.
This book is a great addition to the series. Elliot being inducted into the Royal Youth Alliance causes much drama. He has to covertly carry out secret missions for the Princess whilst at the same time pretending just to be there for the sake of uniting the Kingdom. His liaisons with Madeline grow strained under the pressures of the missions but throughout it all they are there for each other. Getting to experience what the different parts of the kingdom of Cello have to offer though Elliot’s eyes was interesting and I loved the trip to the Lake of Spells. Cello is a world that is full of magic and yet it feels believable because of how similar it is to the World Madeline inhabits.
At over 500 pages, this is a long book but it never felt that way. I couldn’t wait to find out what was next for Elliot and Madeline and their friends. The plot took me places I wasn’t expecting and I enjoyed the journey. There are surprises and a lot of questions still to be answered. What happened to the Royal Family? Will they come back? Why are the cracks between the worlds? What’s the deal with the rebels? And whilst many of these questions were not either fully or partially answered – I felt so involved in the story that I didn’t mind not knowing.
The ending was one I wasn’t anticipating but perfect. That said – I’m incredibly eager to find out what Jaclyn Moriarty has next install for Elliot, Madeline and the people of the two Worlds they come from. I enjoyed every step in this novel and recommend the series for fans of well written and exciting young adult literature.
Elliot Baranski, a boy who lives on a farm in a Kingdom named Cello, and Madeline Tully, a girl from the world we know in a city called Cambridge, are still communicating though a crack between the Kingdoms. A broken TV turned art installation and a malfunctioning parking meter allow the two to pass messages to and fro from Cello to Cambridge. Madeline is still not completely sure she believes the boy is real and the tales he tells about colours harming and seasons with minds of their own – but she lets best friends Belle and Jack in on the secret. Elliot is entrusted by the Princess to try to work out how to use the crack to bring her family back… that is if they are even there to begin with.
I love the characters in this series. They’re as vibrant as the colours which wreak havoc in the realm of Cello. Madeline is inquisitive and unwilling to take things on faith. She needs to find things out for herself and disbelieves things – even things in front of her very eyes – without some kind of scientific proof. Elliot is almost her opposite. He gives his all for everything he does and doesn’t do anything half-hearted. His belief in his family and himself is strong and he would do anything, sacrifice anything, for his loved ones. Where Madeline is theoretically based, Elliot is physical and spontaneous. They work well off each other despite being worlds apart – both physically and metaphorically.
This book is a great addition to the series. Elliot being inducted into the Royal Youth Alliance causes much drama. He has to covertly carry out secret missions for the Princess whilst at the same time pretending just to be there for the sake of uniting the Kingdom. His liaisons with Madeline grow strained under the pressures of the missions but throughout it all they are there for each other. Getting to experience what the different parts of the kingdom of Cello have to offer though Elliot’s eyes was interesting and I loved the trip to the Lake of Spells. Cello is a world that is full of magic and yet it feels believable because of how similar it is to the World Madeline inhabits.
At over 500 pages, this is a long book but it never felt that way. I couldn’t wait to find out what was next for Elliot and Madeline and their friends. The plot took me places I wasn’t expecting and I enjoyed the journey. There are surprises and a lot of questions still to be answered. What happened to the Royal Family? Will they come back? Why are the cracks between the worlds? What’s the deal with the rebels? And whilst many of these questions were not either fully or partially answered – I felt so involved in the story that I didn’t mind not knowing.
The ending was one I wasn’t anticipating but perfect. That said – I’m incredibly eager to find out what Jaclyn Moriarty has next install for Elliot, Madeline and the people of the two Worlds they come from. I enjoyed every step in this novel and recommend the series for fans of well written and exciting young adult literature.
readerpants's review
4.0
I liked it slightly less than the first one, but that may have something to do with my higher expectations going in! Definitely looking forward to the third -- lots of interesting potential there.
froydis's review
4.0
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Arthur A. Levine Books for early access to this title.
I am really enjoying this series! I love Mroiarty's writing style, and the humor in it. She really touches on some deep philosophical and scientific ideas as well. The characters are great and very believable. I'm very taken with Elliot! I love Madeleine and her friends. The Kingdom of Cello is written as realistically as is our own world. I LOVED the episode at the Lake of Spells! This is a great story, and I can't wait for the next installment. This is a wonderful read for kids and adults who like fantasy, sci-fi and just great stories with suspense, mystery and a fair amount of humor.
I am really enjoying this series! I love Mroiarty's writing style, and the humor in it. She really touches on some deep philosophical and scientific ideas as well. The characters are great and very believable. I'm very taken with Elliot! I love Madeleine and her friends. The Kingdom of Cello is written as realistically as is our own world. I LOVED the episode at the Lake of Spells! This is a great story, and I can't wait for the next installment. This is a wonderful read for kids and adults who like fantasy, sci-fi and just great stories with suspense, mystery and a fair amount of humor.
rosen462's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
thetomatowriter's review
5.0
I know I read this a few years ago (never finished the series and I'm trying to now) but man I barely remembered ANY of it. I don't know what was going on in my life at the time. I'm glad I remembered so little, though, bc it allowed this book to sweep me away all over again. There were so many twists that caught me completely off guard (a rare thing, honestly), so many interesting character developments and insights. I also found myself developing theories, which I hadn't before. I really want to finally get my hands on the third book and finish this thing.