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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
An Ordinary Day (In Portlandia)
A traditional story told well.
A young girl is biking around town with her one year-old brother, when they are accosted by a murder of crows. The crows grab her brother and carry him into the nearby “Impassable Wilderness” abutting modern-day Portland. No one goes there, and no one comes out. She must try to find him.
Prue McKeel sets out on a standard adventure, part Alice in Wonderland, part Lemony Snicket (I am told), and certainly part Redwall and LOTR. Her tale proceeds efficiently and capably, and despite its borrowed conceits I enjoyed it greatly. While the story may not excite a lot of passion in the reader, for the outcome seems certain from mid-novel, the plot and “reveals” unfold classically and comfortably. It was somewhat disappointing to have armed conflict in its ending, as in so much fantasy nowadays, but Meloy keeps the fighting to a minimum and sets up the series’ next novel nicely. He infuses his anthropomorphic woodland creatures with a reasonable set of values and reactions, and doesn’t linger on accents/cultures/tribalism overlong.
Of course, the author lives in Portland and cleverly uses the local geography and sites to whimsical advantage. Mostly. His writing does teem with clumsy and unnecessary insertions of hipster culture. Our twelve year-old heroine practices breathing techniques from her yoga class. A critical scene includes someone recounting “I was out looking for rudabaga or something” (emphasis mine), there are talking animals who diatribe against industrialized humans “destroying our world,” and every 50 pages Meloy treats us to a distractingly complex vocabulary lesson. A few character names are quite lazy, too (e.g. Iphigenia and Hydrangea). This is unsurprising considering the author’s penchant for the same in his self-consciously complex song lyrics. Luckily such offenses are relatively infrequent and not too distracting.
I’ll give the next novel a shot. It is crisply written, sparsely but elegantly illustrated in a “Fantastic Mr. Fox” styling, and certainly holds potential for further adventures into its Impassable Wilderness.
A traditional story told well.
A young girl is biking around town with her one year-old brother, when they are accosted by a murder of crows. The crows grab her brother and carry him into the nearby “Impassable Wilderness” abutting modern-day Portland. No one goes there, and no one comes out. She must try to find him.
Prue McKeel sets out on a standard adventure, part Alice in Wonderland, part Lemony Snicket (I am told), and certainly part Redwall and LOTR. Her tale proceeds efficiently and capably, and despite its borrowed conceits I enjoyed it greatly. While the story may not excite a lot of passion in the reader, for the outcome seems certain from mid-novel, the plot and “reveals” unfold classically and comfortably. It was somewhat disappointing to have armed conflict in its ending, as in so much fantasy nowadays, but Meloy keeps the fighting to a minimum and sets up the series’ next novel nicely. He infuses his anthropomorphic woodland creatures with a reasonable set of values and reactions, and doesn’t linger on accents/cultures/tribalism overlong.
Of course, the author lives in Portland and cleverly uses the local geography and sites to whimsical advantage. Mostly. His writing does teem with clumsy and unnecessary insertions of hipster culture. Our twelve year-old heroine practices breathing techniques from her yoga class. A critical scene includes someone recounting “I was out looking for rudabaga or something” (emphasis mine), there are talking animals who diatribe against industrialized humans “destroying our world,” and every 50 pages Meloy treats us to a distractingly complex vocabulary lesson. A few character names are quite lazy, too (e.g. Iphigenia and Hydrangea). This is unsurprising considering the author’s penchant for the same in his self-consciously complex song lyrics. Luckily such offenses are relatively infrequent and not too distracting.
I’ll give the next novel a shot. It is crisply written, sparsely but elegantly illustrated in a “Fantastic Mr. Fox” styling, and certainly holds potential for further adventures into its Impassable Wilderness.
Such fun! And the illustrations are phenomenal, of course, since Carson Ellis did them. I'm really looking forward to the next book in this series. Hopefully the full trilogy will be a good addition to the canon of children's fantasy.
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I have a hard time thinking of a kid that would slog through this, but it was a well-written (albeit over-written), charming, complex story.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
About 150 pages too long but it really stuck the landing.
