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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
A bit too dark and violent for a Young Adult novel, but maybe I'm just old fashioned.
It wasn't hooking me three hours in. The characters were just kinda uninteresting, the narration wasn’t working for me, and constantly looking up at the timecode and realizing there’s still thirteen more hours of this book with its sluggish pace was too daunting. I might return to it before the movie comes out, but honestly I might just prefer to see how Laika approaches this tome. Sorry Mr. Decemberists, your kids’ book is just not fun to me!!
A lot of people have been calling it like a modern-day American Narnia. While I can totally see from where this comparison arises, I don't think Wildwood can hold a candle to Narnia. The story is enjoyable and fun, the characters very typical early YA characters. I would have probably liked it a lot more if I'd read it in elementary school, but it was unique in its own way and I liked it for that. I'll probably read the sequel, but it's not on the top of my list. I think I would have also liked it better if I hadn't heard such raving reviews for it. High hopes not quite met, but still a good book.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I would have enjoyed this book a lot when I was younger. It’s a great book for kids with a high reading level but who still want to read books with more age-appropriate subject matter.
This is a soft DNF, I think. The book is by no means bad and I actually was enjoying it overall, but for some reason I’m slugging through it at the moment.
Man, this book is a drag. I wanted so much to like it. I tried really hard to like it. But... no. I am barely 60 pages into this thing, and already I have had to remind myself of the following things multiple times:
1) this is an alternate universe (one in which, apparently, adults are exceptionally stupid and one-year-olds can function on one meal a day and be trusted to sit still in a wagon hitched to the back of a fixie? Otherwise I might believe the author has had no experience at all whatsoever with either parents or babies in the real world.)
2) this is fantasy (coyotes "baying" strikes fear into the hearts of adults on the other side of a large river? This MUST be fantasy, or I'd have to conclude that the author either doesn't know what 'baying' is or has never heard a coyote, or both. There is also a description of two coyotes fighting in which "their jaws locked onto each others' throats," and... at least in this universe anatomy doesn't work that way.)
3) this is the vanity project of two already well known artists in other media, otherwise how in the hell did this a) get published with b) such a beautiful binding on the ink-and-paper version?
Seriously, the paperback version of this book is gorgeous and the blurb makes it sound magical and enchanting. However, I'm glad I waited for my library's digital copy, because had I bought it I'd have been severely disappointed. It's clunky and inconsistent and awkward... I found myself mentally copyediting things like sentence structure, which is REALLY not my style. I'm a live-and-let-live reader; I trust that the author and editor(s) have made such stylistic choices deliberately. I'm not sure that happened here, though.
I should add that I live in the greater Portland area, so I was excited to dive into a looking-glass version of this place. I'm doubly disappointed that this book seems to be sucking so hard.
Anyway, I'm going to give it a few more pages and see if I end up liking it any more than I do, but I'm not holding out much hope.
ETA: this scene with the coyotes in uniforms... I just can't. I'm sorry. I give up.
1) this is an alternate universe (one in which, apparently, adults are exceptionally stupid and one-year-olds can function on one meal a day and be trusted to sit still in a wagon hitched to the back of a fixie? Otherwise I might believe the author has had no experience at all whatsoever with either parents or babies in the real world.)
2) this is fantasy (coyotes "baying" strikes fear into the hearts of adults on the other side of a large river? This MUST be fantasy, or I'd have to conclude that the author either doesn't know what 'baying' is or has never heard a coyote, or both. There is also a description of two coyotes fighting in which "their jaws locked onto each others' throats," and... at least in this universe anatomy doesn't work that way.)
3) this is the vanity project of two already well known artists in other media, otherwise how in the hell did this a) get published with b) such a beautiful binding on the ink-and-paper version?
Seriously, the paperback version of this book is gorgeous and the blurb makes it sound magical and enchanting. However, I'm glad I waited for my library's digital copy, because had I bought it I'd have been severely disappointed. It's clunky and inconsistent and awkward... I found myself mentally copyediting things like sentence structure, which is REALLY not my style. I'm a live-and-let-live reader; I trust that the author and editor(s) have made such stylistic choices deliberately. I'm not sure that happened here, though.
I should add that I live in the greater Portland area, so I was excited to dive into a looking-glass version of this place. I'm doubly disappointed that this book seems to be sucking so hard.
Anyway, I'm going to give it a few more pages and see if I end up liking it any more than I do, but I'm not holding out much hope.
ETA: this scene with the coyotes in uniforms... I just can't. I'm sorry. I give up.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No