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chrisb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
spunglass's review against another edition
3.0
Parts of this story really grabbed my attention, but for the most part it just felt like I was reading a knock-off version of Labyrinth: re-marriage, a half-brother, stolen children, the "two door (bridge) riddle".. etc.
the_sunken_library's review against another edition
5.0
A beautifully written but slightly sad novel.
It starts with David caring for his slowly dying mother, wondering how life will be with just his dad. Explaining away his love for books thanks to her love for fairy tales.
After his mother sadly passes away David assumes it will be just him and his dad forever. How wrong he is. Soon Rose appears and the inevitable pitter patter of tiny little feet attached to younger brother Georgie. Jealousy and bitterness swells within David's heart. How could his father betray the memory of his mother? Who was this woman and child to try and interfere with their lives?
David thinks he keeps the darkness brooding in his chest well hidden, deep deep below the surface. But someone has heard it's cries. Someone has seen it lurking behind his eyes. The Crooked Man. He can offer David a way out. A way to be rid of Georgie forever. But everything comes at a price and this monster's price is the worst of all.
For fans of fantasy and fairy tales.
It starts with David caring for his slowly dying mother, wondering how life will be with just his dad. Explaining away his love for books thanks to her love for fairy tales.
After his mother sadly passes away David assumes it will be just him and his dad forever. How wrong he is. Soon Rose appears and the inevitable pitter patter of tiny little feet attached to younger brother Georgie. Jealousy and bitterness swells within David's heart. How could his father betray the memory of his mother? Who was this woman and child to try and interfere with their lives?
David thinks he keeps the darkness brooding in his chest well hidden, deep deep below the surface. But someone has heard it's cries. Someone has seen it lurking behind his eyes. The Crooked Man. He can offer David a way out. A way to be rid of Georgie forever. But everything comes at a price and this monster's price is the worst of all.
For fans of fantasy and fairy tales.
hooligan_kt's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
I’m a sucker for a coming of age story! Throw in a bunch of dark fairy tales and I was very happy with this story.
That said, it could have been shorter - I think David’s journey didn’t need to be quite as dragged out. The audiobook narration was great though so it wasn’t too hard to get through. Might have felt too slow and predictable if I had read the text version
That said, it could have been shorter - I think David’s journey didn’t need to be quite as dragged out. The audiobook narration was great though so it wasn’t too hard to get through. Might have felt too slow and predictable if I had read the text version
timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
Didn't quite work for me.
I have no problem with re-tellings of fairy tales, but this one seemed to try so hard to get them ALL in there that it took away from the main purpose of fantasy - to tell me a story and amaze me and leave me wondering what could possibly happen next.
The place at the bottom of the garden is a Bad Place! Will he go there? Of course.
He meets a noble knight. Named Roland? Of course. Dead man walking? Yup.
Seven dwarves. Characters right out of Alan Coren's best work. "Do I do overtime, squire? Do I buggery! "ear that, lads? 'e wants to know if we do overtime. Ha. I should cocoa. Lot a toffs!"
Worst of all, I never doubted that Brave Dave would win through all obstacles dimly by being noble. Never doubted that the Crooked Man was - well, who he turned out to be. The story rolled along but it never surprised me.
Is this a deep psychological examination of the passage from childhood when one has some burdens? Yes. Has that been done before? Yes, a zillion times.
There's just a shortage of amaze-me and that's-a-clever-plot-twist. David's just going through the levels until he gets to the big showdown.
Most of all, I kept wanting to put this one down and go read "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" again.
I have no problem with re-tellings of fairy tales, but this one seemed to try so hard to get them ALL in there that it took away from the main purpose of fantasy - to tell me a story and amaze me and leave me wondering what could possibly happen next.
The place at the bottom of the garden is a Bad Place! Will he go there? Of course.
He meets a noble knight. Named Roland? Of course. Dead man walking? Yup.
Seven dwarves. Characters right out of Alan Coren's best work. "Do I do overtime, squire? Do I buggery! "ear that, lads? 'e wants to know if we do overtime. Ha. I should cocoa. Lot a toffs!"
Worst of all, I never doubted that Brave Dave would win through all obstacles dimly by being noble. Never doubted that the Crooked Man was - well, who he turned out to be. The story rolled along but it never surprised me.
Is this a deep psychological examination of the passage from childhood when one has some burdens? Yes. Has that been done before? Yes, a zillion times.
There's just a shortage of amaze-me and that's-a-clever-plot-twist. David's just going through the levels until he gets to the big showdown.
Most of all, I kept wanting to put this one down and go read "The Ocean at the End of the Lane" again.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I wasn't sure at first how much I was going to like this, worried that it was starting out sounding derivative, but it wasn't that at all, or at least not in the way I was thinking. When it started to open itself up into stories within stories within stories, bits and pieces of fairy tale and mythology in both the real world and the hidden world, I got it. Not just fairy tales but a bit of Neverending Story, a bit of Labyrinth, a bit of Narnia...our more modern stories of magic and imagination and myth. "Happily ever after" was far from the only lie we told ourselves through story, but this book also celebrates the value of those stories and their cyclical influence on our lives.
trin's review against another edition
4.0
An immensely engaging story about stories. David’s mother dies and he moves with his father and his not-so-evil stepmother to a new house in the country, where, after hearing books start to whisper to him (I loved the descriptions of what the different types of books sounded like) and sensing the Crooked Man watching him, he finds a way through to another, dark fairytale world. Connolly twists a lot of familiar stories, playing with gender and often switching good guys and bad, and it’s really cool. (There are gay knights. GAY KNIGHTS!) The atmosphere is also fantastic, and dark as hell—this could almost be a children’s story, except it’s really violent and at times quite scary. (The whole huntress sequence freaked me the fuck out.) The attitude is also refreshingly adult; I really liked how David’s growth was presented. In fact, all of this world-building and character development was so good that I kind of wished that it resulted in more; the end was actually kind of quiet and understated and sad—an ending that I respect, I guess, if not the one I wanted. Still, I love books about books and stories about stories, and this was an incredibly imaginative and scary and exciting and moving example of that. Plus, gay knights.
judeandolin's review against another edition
3.0
I just remembered this book. I read back in high school and I think???? I loved it? I'm not sure. I know I loved the ending. So it's a 4/5 for me.