Reviews

The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs

novelesque_life's review

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4.0

4 STARS

"A painfully overweight sixth-grade boy receives a magic amulet which brings him luck, but also terrifying side effects." (From Amazon)

A great mystery paranormal children's novel

heathersbike's review

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3.0

I just don't think these hold up particularly well. It's fine but...

raohyrule's review

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5.0

4.5 stars

is it just me or were there really subtle yet impactful themes and discussions of gender roles and feminism in this lol

shomarq's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

deboraha's review

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

3.5

perdidaenmismundos's review against another edition

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3.0

Este libro es la continuación de La casa del reloj en la pared.
En un principio comentaros que pensaba que esta historia se continuaría a lo que ocurrió en el anterior libro. Y no, esto es como una historia diferente. Bueno no diferente sino que ha pasado un año desde que Lewis vive con su tío. Eso para empezar me descoloco un poco.
Para empezar creo que este tipo de historias son muy lentas. No llego a entender porque la primera parte del libro siempre es como una leve "introducción" cuando en si ya conocemos a los personajes, y esta fue una de las cosas que me sorprendió. Ya que lo entendí mucho en el primero pero en este segundo libro vuelvo a sentir lo mismo. Es cierto que hay un personaje nuevo Rose Rita que es una amiga de Lewis, que por cierto no sé de donde sale ya que en el anterior tuvo un amigo pero al final dejaron de serlo y en ningún momento recuerdo a ninguna Rose Rita. Luego Lewis me parece otro niño diferente al del primer libro. Aunque es cierto que hay algo que siempre encontramos en su personalidad y es que empieza poniéndole coraje a las cosas pero poco a poco se va desinflando con cada metedura de pata y al final siempre debe ser salvado.
Otra cosa que tampoco me gusta del libro es que usa poquísimo a su tío y Mrs. Zimmerman cuando realmente son el lado mágico de la historia. Es cierto que siempre acaban teniendo que ayudar porque Lewis la lía. Pero es que suelen salir a partir de la página 100 y si salen antes es solo para hacer tortitas o enseñarle por ejemplo un cofre que es el que acaba desencadenando todo el problema. Y la magia tampoco es que se use en exceso cuando se supone que son MAGOS. Si hasta Lewis la usan más que ellos.
Una cosa que me ha gustado mucho es que este libro ensalza los valores de la lectura, Lewis lee bastante y siempre esta que si yendo a la biblioteca, que si pensando en que tiene que ir a recoger un libro. También resalta la amistad aunque a veces no la llego a entender del todo porque obviamente todos nos hemos peleado con nuestros amigos alguna vez, pero la forma que tiene Lewis de tratar a sus amigos me parece algo fea. Siempre tiene que tener la razón y si por ejemplo la amiga le dice "dame el colgante por tú bien y te lo guardo" pues empieza a hacer cosas super enrevesadas para conseguir salirse siempre con la suya.
Otro punto positivo es que he sentido que este era un poco más oscuro que el anterior. Aunque si lo pienso fríamente el final del otro también tenía un leve toque. Pero creo que en este si el anterior le daba 2 puntitos en miedo ahora puedo darle 4. No es algo que haya dicho "dios no he podido dormir en semanas" pero bueno para un niño tal vez que haya cosas oscuras y que sean medio sombras pues es para asustarse.
También me gusta el desenlace. Es decir, cuando te explican todo lo que ha pasado, porque, y como ha ocurrido todo. Creo que en el anterior también lo hizo Mrs. Zimmerman y me gusta mucho estar leyendo paso por paso y estar diciendo "ah pues mira tiene mucho sentido, ah pues mira no esta mal el desenlace para un niño."
¿Lo volvería a leer? Sigamos viendo como va la historia y según el conjunto diré si o no.
¿Recomendarlo? en especial a niños que disfruten el género.
La reseña completa la subiré el miércoles de esta semana a mi blog por si queréis leerla completa en:
https://perdidaenmismundos.wordpress.com/

artmajorese's review

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adventurous lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

sisteray's review

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2.0

There are a couple of big problems with this book.

It is a sequel so one can't help but compare this book to the original. Now I'm not saying that the original was a masterpiece and this was a drop in quality, rather instead, that the first book established what you were going to get from the series and then the second book didn't deliver any of it. In the first book, the main character's parents die and he comes to live with his lively, caring, magic-wielding uncle and his "friend" who also happens to be a powerful witch. Lewis cries excessively, but you expect this because his parents just died and he's in a new strange place. His relationship with his new guardians and the exploration of the house and the town are the backbone of the story, and it works.

It seems that there is some sense of growth to the character, he learns to trust himself and his new family, and he recognizes that they trust him and have faith in his capabilities. So why is it that the character is still such a whiny crybaby? It bogs the story down and makes him unlikeable. To make matters worse he is overwhelmed by a force to make him even more unpleasant. Why do I want to read about this kid any more?

Now instead of discovering the fantastic things about the house and his family and the town, he's caught up in mundane repetitive bullying. This is mostly just a school drama and an afterschool special about being a "junkie for magic".

I'll skip to the ending, everything worthwhile about the story is pasted on and crammed into the last chapter giving us a cliff notes version of something that we never felt a part of. I wish he'd taken these ideas, elaborated on them and made the characters more of an active part in the story rather than being passive or at best reactive.

The reason why supernatural stories work so well is because the main character/characters often can't share their experience with the rest of the world because either no one will believe them, or no one will have the capability of fighting whatever the threat is. It forces a sense of isolationism. The biggest flaw of this book is that Lewis lives in a house of magic and doesn't tell his magic guardians about magic problems. Why would he not tell his guardians? Apparently because they would get mad at him. The only time that they were unhappy with him in the last book was when he didn't tell them about his magic problems. He ultimately saved the world, so there should be some level of trust, right? In this book, we get the introduction of a new friend, the main character feels that relationship with his uncle is one of mistrust so now he confides in her (someone that knows nothing about what he's talking about and has little interest in it).

The only reason why I finished this was because it was so short. Ugh. I thought that I was going to enjoy this series, but I'm done with it now. All in all everything that was charming about the first book is gone entirely. Too bad.

mokey81's review

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2.0

This one seemed too short, and the plot was incredibly under-developed. I enjoy these books written for the younger audiences, but give them a little more credit to figure things out as they read. Instead of introducing almost a totally different story in the last few pages in order to explain everything else. I'd skip this one.

bb9159's review

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funny mysterious fast-paced

3.75