You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Very readable YA.
Not sure how this is getting such good reviews from other people. IMO, the characters were not well-developed and the story was kind of a mess. Plus, it just seemed to meander for hundreds of pages in the middle.
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
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
What a fun fantasy/sf book! Starts off rather confusing, until you get to the time travel part. Then it gets a little more confusing, until everything finally makes sense. Main character Freddy, fourteen, doesn't feel like she fits in anywhere in her life; she tries to get by at school by being invisible. She doesn't have any friends, she's short, looks young for her age, and is still upset over her parents' divorce years ago and her mom's remarriage and new absentee parenting style (the kids are left alone to their own devices a lot; parents show up at dinnertime with pizza). She has a smart younger sister who loves mysteries and a grumpy stepbrother who happens to be deaf, both of whom love to play D&D together and generally annoy Freddy. Then the new neighbors arrive--with a crash! They wreck their moving van and enlist Freddy, Roland and Mel's help to move in. These neighbors, a young man Freddy's age and his aunt/friend/detective lady who talks funny? are very eccentric, to say the least, and constantly surprise Freddy with their weird behavior. And then...suddenly Freddy is in Viking-era Scandinavia. And we're off! A rollicking good time, with homages to literature and history and a coming-of-age/be true to yourself/family is important theme.
Really, really good. A bit like [b: The Homeward Bounders|47570|The Homeward Bounders|Diana Wynne Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1444026372s/47570.jpg|2771] meeting [b: Eight Days of Luke|114510|Eight Days of Luke|Diana Wynne Jones|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1171689089s/114510.jpg|1003986] (both by Diana Wynne Jones), it has that quality that much of that author's writing has, a well thought out story and system that reveals itself over time as the characters muddle their way through it.
Also, it contains (in no particular order) ASL, DnD, midnight organ playing, time travel, Coleridge (Kubla Khan!), and various pantheons - so many awesome things packed into one novel!!
Also, it contains (in no particular order) ASL, DnD, midnight organ playing, time travel, Coleridge (Kubla Khan!), and various pantheons - so many awesome things packed into one novel!!
I was really looking forward to reading Weave A Circle Round, but I felt like there was something slightly askew in the midst of it all. Normally, I love magical realism and science fiction, but I felt a deep dissatisfaction with the fact that the supporting characters weren’t fleshed out the way they should have been.
I understand there were plot reasons for those characters not to have been fleshed out, but it left me indifferent—I lost one of them entirely by the end, and the epilogue only reiterated what a reasonable reader could have pieced together on their own. Couple that with the fact that the author seems to be incredibly averse to using gender neutral pronouns despite the book containing a genderfluid character, and that comes out to a dissatisfied feeling.
Despite that, there was an okay solution to The Big Mystery, a fantastic pull to solve that mystery, and some really stellar character growth from the protagonist, which is why I’m giving this 4/5. I think if it had been reworked a little more to give more importance to characters who were important in the long run, it might have completely ensnared me.
I understand there were plot reasons for those characters not to have been fleshed out, but it left me indifferent—I lost one of them entirely by the end, and the epilogue only reiterated what a reasonable reader could have pieced together on their own. Couple that with the fact that the author seems to be incredibly averse to using gender neutral pronouns despite the book containing a genderfluid character, and that comes out to a dissatisfied feeling.
Despite that, there was an okay solution to The Big Mystery, a fantastic pull to solve that mystery, and some really stellar character growth from the protagonist, which is why I’m giving this 4/5. I think if it had been reworked a little more to give more importance to characters who were important in the long run, it might have completely ensnared me.
Good story about the way the stories people tell become the stories that shape the people who tell them. With a slightly dislikable narrator, attack-spiderplants, and tentacles. An excellent bus book.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
if I had a nickel for every time I read a novel where a time traveling protagonist annoyed Samuel Taylor Coleridge to the point where he lost his place and didn't finish Kubla Khan, I'd have two nickels - which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice. Anyway, it's sweet and clever and captures the feeling of reading a library book all night under the covers while ignoring your chores and homework.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Fire/Fire injury, War
I found the sentences to be clunky and distancing for most of the first third. I was still pausing to put a name to a face even at the end.
This book felt more like a misplaced and mis-styled middle-grader book. If that had been the editing process - take this version and transform it to really cool middle grade - I would have liked it much more.
I rarely like plot that forces the characters to accept not knowing what's happening, so if that's a large requirement of a story, I'm gonna struggle.
If the author called Mel fat or said she waddled one more time...I was going to throw the book across the room. This is not okay, and each time it threw me out of the story and into a fury. And it happened quite a lot. Why would you do this? Mel walked. Mel skipped. Mel moved. Mel wandered. Mel strode. I could go on. Did anyone else in the process of getting this book to print not pause and think, "Hey, maybe not characterize the smart sibling as fat and waddling?"
This book felt more like a misplaced and mis-styled middle-grader book. If that had been the editing process - take this version and transform it to really cool middle grade - I would have liked it much more.
I rarely like plot that forces the characters to accept not knowing what's happening, so if that's a large requirement of a story, I'm gonna struggle.
If the author called Mel fat or said she waddled one more time...I was going to throw the book across the room. This is not okay, and each time it threw me out of the story and into a fury. And it happened quite a lot. Why would you do this? Mel walked. Mel skipped. Mel moved. Mel wandered. Mel strode. I could go on. Did anyone else in the process of getting this book to print not pause and think, "Hey, maybe not characterize the smart sibling as fat and waddling?"
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2017/11/2017-book-202.html
Maaren's debut novel reads like a modern Diana Wynne Jones story to me, which is one of th highest compliments I can give. It centers on a fourteen year old girl in Canada who just wants to pass through life—and high school—unnoticed, which is complicated when a pair of eccentric strangers move next door and become entangled with her sister, their stepbrother, and herself. The story touches on English poetry and mythology from around the world, had great characters and great adventures, and I pretty much loved it. A/A-.
__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.
Maaren's debut novel reads like a modern Diana Wynne Jones story to me, which is one of th highest compliments I can give. It centers on a fourteen year old girl in Canada who just wants to pass through life—and high school—unnoticed, which is complicated when a pair of eccentric strangers move next door and become entangled with her sister, their stepbrother, and herself. The story touches on English poetry and mythology from around the world, had great characters and great adventures, and I pretty much loved it. A/A-.
__
A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on Tuesday.