Reviews

Before I started reading this book, I had high hopes for it, since the preceding book had a fun, cozy, and childlike vibe coupled with an adventurous story line that made it a virtually perfect comfort read for kids and adults, and I was hoping this book would do something similar; unfortunately, that's not quite what happened. While this story is still adventurous, it doesn't feel like it has even half of the fun or wonder that I felt when reading the first book, and I can't really figure out why. Some of the proceeding shortcomings I'll mention may have affected the overall feel of this book, but in truth, I can't quite state why it feels like Funke's heart just wasn't in this text and why it felt so bland. The first definite problem I saw with this book was that the conflict seems to start way too quickly. By the end of chapter one you're already being introduced to the inciting incident, and from there the conflict is already in full force and pushing the characters along the plot with relatively little room to get used to the new settings and characters. This problem is only exasperated by the fact that at least the first quarter of the book is stuffed with exposition and lore to explain how the characters got to where they are and to set the stage for the plot, so much so that it feels like a whole other book happened between this one and the last and we just didn't see it. Another problem is that it doesn't seem like the intended tone and/or pace came across in the text. The plot has our main characters trying to retrieve a magic feather in order to save some pegasus before time runs out, which makes it seem like the story should have a more tense tone or fast pace, but it never really felt that way when reading the text, so the ticking clock element just felt a bit pointless. I could have probably forgotten about the limited time if it wasn't for the regular chapters where we're expressly shown the condition of the pegasus and exactly how much time the characters have left. The final thing that obviously didn't work was the theme and message of the book. The main message of this book is an environmental one about how humanity abuses and exploits the natural world and that we should take efforts to preserve it's beauty. This message could have been an interesting element in the story, but the way Funke conveyed it by having the characters casually mention in passing how awful humans can be, and putting quotes before certain chapters that comment on the destruction of nature, made it come off as if the story occasionally just lectures to you about how bad humanity is rather than have the message organically woven into the plot to make it more layered.

Even with all of the problems that I have with this book, I still give it an overall average rating, mostly because it was more disappointing than actually bad. This book in a vacuum, while still not exceptional, is still okay with a serviceable plot and decent enough prose and dialogue, and never did anything to make me outright hate it; it was just the high standard set by the first book that made this read disappointing rather than just okay. If you're interested in this title, please try to manage your expectations. If you're not interested in this title, then there's no problem with sticking with the first book.

catethegreat03's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I enjoyed it! I loved all the new fantastic creatures inteoduced and the same wonderful characters from the first book. It just wasn't as good as the first book. Maybe it was because it was such a smaller adventure. Maybe it was the last line that was just as cheesy as it gets.