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emily_britton's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Fun story, maybe a tad dry at spots. My son appreciated all the Greek mythology allusions.
justlily's review
Absolutely loved the Pyrdain series by Lloyd Alexander but this one wasn't doing it for me. DNF at around page 50.
adamrshields's review
4.0
Short Review: a good single volume children's book from Lloyd Alexander. If you liked his Prydain or Westmark series then this will be familiar in style and characterization. This is really about exploring the idea of story telling and would make a good read aloud for elementary children.
The two main male and female leads are very reminiscent in character to Taran/Theo and Miggle/Eloway. The third character is a man that has been turned into a donkey (or jackass). The story uses lots of word play about that. So in some households this will be a reason to not read the book outloud. But there is lots of subtle humor for adults and good overt humor for the kids.
These are also moralistic stories in the best sense of the word. This is a book about teaching morals. And it is actually pretty good art as opposed to a lot of books that merely parrot moral ideas without the engaging stories.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/arkadians/
The two main male and female leads are very reminiscent in character to Taran/Theo and Miggle/Eloway. The third character is a man that has been turned into a donkey (or jackass). The story uses lots of word play about that. So in some households this will be a reason to not read the book outloud. But there is lots of subtle humor for adults and good overt humor for the kids.
These are also moralistic stories in the best sense of the word. This is a book about teaching morals. And it is actually pretty good art as opposed to a lot of books that merely parrot moral ideas without the engaging stories.
My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/arkadians/
eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review
4.0
4 stars. I enjoyed this YA novel loosely based on Greek mythology, in the form of a quest.
shanviolinlove's review
1.0
I really should have read this when I was younger to appreciate it. It definitely has some women's rights undertones in it...ironic, since the author is a man.
zoemaja's review against another edition
5.0
I can't believe this book is out of print! I have loved Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles since I was a kid, but never heard of this book until my boys' 5th grade teacher assigned it as class reading. It's brilliant, and really speaks to kids who may be dealing with boy vs. girl issues. A delightful story, well told with wit and joy.
Library book
Library book
abcastro's review
2.0
I like how Joy-in-the-Dance (yes, it's a character's name) calls Lucian "Aiee-Ouch" because that's what he said when he met her since he was hurt but she uses it as if it's a pain every time she talks to him, I don't blame her though. While stuff happens in present time, the characters spend a lot of time telling stories to each other, which is a bit of a running theme but I don't really like it, it's meant to introduce ideas as far as the lore and I imagine it's accurate considering people in this age were probably bored but many of the stories are just wise old tales about completely separate characters. It wasn't easy to pay attention because I would lose track of the dialogue.
There's a character called "Fronto" who is of course a donkey, that concept drove me out of my wits because they talk about bears and snake women and such but then I realized, that this actually is Donkey! Donkey from Shrek. He talks about how he was a poet turned into a donkey then describes a man (not old woman in this instance) who tries to sell him because he can talk. Fronto refuses to talk when the man tells him to and everybody starts roasting the man for supposedly lying to them. It's the same backstory (few things changed here and there) but we've always wondered what fairytale Donkey was from since everyone else seemed to be "from" something, I do believe this is it.
As I said, the names kind of drove me out of my wits and it took some getting used to but once they actually set a journey up then you start to appreciate it a bit more, for me that chapter was 8 so before you drop it (which I almost did, I even bought a new book and was just using it until the new one arrived) you should give it a benefit of the doubt and read a bit more. I'm glad I finished it because I doubt I would've returned if I dropped it.
I can see the author's intentions, that's fine, it's the way he did it that bothers me. The events are all there but the way they're delivered is starch. I haven't read any of his books that released after the Beggar Queen other than this but they both have similar problems, except length isn't one of them. It makes me wonder if it was just his writing in that time period.
The message is kind of cool, it's like "This why we can't have nice things so often." but other than that, I'm a fan of Alexander, I think his characters are extraordinary and the Chronicles of Prydain are among my favorite books of all time, Westmark was pretty good as well, but the Arkadians doesn't quite live up to that unfortunately. I can say that it's different, and a spin on fairytales in general but just not as impressive to me. I'll give it a 2.5 and I really do wish it was more.
There's a character called "Fronto" who is of course a donkey, that concept drove me out of my wits because they talk about bears and snake women and such but then I realized, that this actually is Donkey! Donkey from Shrek. He talks about how he was a poet turned into a donkey then describes a man (not old woman in this instance) who tries to sell him because he can talk. Fronto refuses to talk when the man tells him to and everybody starts roasting the man for supposedly lying to them. It's the same backstory (few things changed here and there) but we've always wondered what fairytale Donkey was from since everyone else seemed to be "from" something, I do believe this is it.
As I said, the names kind of drove me out of my wits and it took some getting used to but once they actually set a journey up then you start to appreciate it a bit more, for me that chapter was 8 so before you drop it (which I almost did, I even bought a new book and was just using it until the new one arrived) you should give it a benefit of the doubt and read a bit more. I'm glad I finished it because I doubt I would've returned if I dropped it.
I can see the author's intentions, that's fine, it's the way he did it that bothers me. The events are all there but the way they're delivered is starch. I haven't read any of his books that released after the Beggar Queen other than this but they both have similar problems, except length isn't one of them. It makes me wonder if it was just his writing in that time period.
The message is kind of cool, it's like "This why we can't have nice things so often." but other than that, I'm a fan of Alexander, I think his characters are extraordinary and the Chronicles of Prydain are among my favorite books of all time, Westmark was pretty good as well, but the Arkadians doesn't quite live up to that unfortunately. I can say that it's different, and a spin on fairytales in general but just not as impressive to me. I'll give it a 2.5 and I really do wish it was more.
taliaissmart's review
3.0
This book was good. Not great, not bad. I thought that the plot format seemed VERY similar to that of [b:Where the Mountain Meets the Moon|5983694|Where the Mountain Meets the Moon|Grace Lin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267915834s/5983694.jpg|6157354] by [a:Grace Lin|59390|Grace Lin|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1252026944p2/59390.jpg], so if you enjoyed that book you will probably like this as well.
owenbiesel's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5