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celtic_oracle's review
3.0
I was totally digging this until the end when a character suddenly decides she's totally into this guy she otherwise wasn't interested in just because she realized *he* was interested and all she ever wanted was to have someone look at her like that. There's a solid foundation for a relationship right there.
And there were loose ends. I hate loose ends. But given that this is a filler novella for a series, I guess I can understand. They just better be dealt with elsewhere in the series.
Four stars till the last twenty pages or so, but the final outcome is three (did I mention I hate loose ends?)
And there were loose ends. I hate loose ends. But given that this is a filler novella for a series, I guess I can understand. They just better be dealt with elsewhere in the series.
Four stars till the last twenty pages or so, but the final outcome is three (did I mention I hate loose ends?)
thecesspit's review
1.0
If Enid Blyton was alive today, she would have written books like this. Pretend edginess from the latino street boy quickly fades into a magical school where everything is safe and nice. Adventures felt like going up the Faraway Tree, where the logic was made up as they went along. The love triangle aspect was facile, and the final boss fight at the end was the dullest fight seen I've read in a wild.
Big disappointment.
Big disappointment.
roxanamalinachirila's review
1.0
This book is readable, which, I believe, is one of its few qualities.
It resembles:
- Harry Potter (from the point of view of kids in a magic school), with the plot and the characters removed
- romance novels (from the point of view of rich pampering environments), but with the fun of romance removed
- Hollywood cliches used to fill in the part of the story that isn't relevant. Here, no part of the story is relevant.
- every other fantasy novel out there, because it inserts "different" elves and fairies, yet I couldn't care less about them
All in all, this will be the end of my reading YA for some time.
It resembles:
- Harry Potter (from the point of view of kids in a magic school), with the plot and the characters removed
- romance novels (from the point of view of rich pampering environments), but with the fun of romance removed
- Hollywood cliches used to fill in the part of the story that isn't relevant. Here, no part of the story is relevant.
- every other fantasy novel out there, because it inserts "different" elves and fairies, yet I couldn't care less about them
All in all, this will be the end of my reading YA for some time.
lauranewsome's review
3.0
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a fun story with interesting characters. It did fall into some of the classic YA traps, like the obligatory love triangle. I do wish I had gotten to know the characters a bit more. I think my favorite bits of the book were when the students were giving their back stories to each other. I would have loved more of that and more world building.
ambermarshall's review
3.0
I'm definitely not one to accuse any book of ripping off another just because they share a premise (a school for gifted children - everyone says Harry Potter but nothing about X-Men with this one). This isn't my first time with the Secret World Chronicles, since I read another collection that I got in (maybe this same) Humble Bundle. My main takeaway is it's interesting but doesn't grab me enough. It was all right but not great.
I was a little annoyed with the random insertion of Spanish words in the middle of sentences. Do people really talk like that? All the people I know whose first language isn't English will only slip into their native language when trying to figure out what English word corresponds to what they're trying to say. They don't just throw it in there like punctuation. Maybe for words like "hermana" and "mamacita" because that's what he calls his sister, his mother, etc, but the rest of the time it's like "pick a random word to run through Google translate."
Tomas's arrogant macho 'tude turned me off, but that's just a personal taste thing.
Overall not intense or nuanced enough for my tastes.
I was a little annoyed with the random insertion of Spanish words in the middle of sentences. Do people really talk like that? All the people I know whose first language isn't English will only slip into their native language when trying to figure out what English word corresponds to what they're trying to say. They don't just throw it in there like punctuation. Maybe for words like "hermana" and "mamacita" because that's what he calls his sister, his mother, etc, but the rest of the time it's like "pick a random word to run through Google translate."
Tomas's arrogant macho 'tude turned me off, but that's just a personal taste thing.
Overall not intense or nuanced enough for my tastes.
tiggum's review
2.0
Harry Potter for a slightly older audience, YA rather than children. It was mostly fairly inoffensive, but I was tempted to rate it lower because there are some really dumb bits, like people causing their own problems by just not talking to each other like normal human beings, and basically the whole last chapter (and a bit of the one before). Also, the random Spanish words sprinkled throughout were really annoying. I guess they're there to signify that the protagonist is bilingual, but this isn't important to the plot at all. It wasn't terrible, but I really can't see any reason to recommend this book to anyone.
amalyndb's review
3.0
After discovering he possesses pryokinetic talents while defending his sister in a robbery, Tomas is pulled in by the local gang boss to be an enforcer, starting fires when people do not pay up. Caught by the police, he is offered a deal by the DA: attend a boarding school in upstate New York for three years to earn a GED and his record will be sealed. He agrees, thinking to escape if he hates it, and is perplexed when he arrives, convinced it is a trick or people are fooling themselves. For here is a school for people with psionic and magic abilities - and everyone knows there is no such thing as magic!
Thoroughly enjoyed this! This is a nifty world, would love if there was more of this particular universe or at the school.
Thoroughly enjoyed this! This is a nifty world, would love if there was more of this particular universe or at the school.
snark's review
3.0
This book was fun to read but was definitely lacking in many qualities. Sometimes it's nice to mix in books like that, with so much less attention required--humble book bundle is handy.