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aki_'s review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-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? Yes
3.5
elliehaven's review against another edition
4.0
What a heartwarming story! I don't know if it's strange but I loved Furthermore! I loved its nonsense and all the unique villages and places. Every time Alice and Oliver escaped from one challenge I was looking forward for the next. They were all so beautifully crafted.
It was really interesting how magic was based on colors. Also I was grateful that at the end of the book Alice didn't change like she had wanted at the beginning but learned to love herself.
It was really interesting how magic was based on colors. Also I was grateful that at the end of the book Alice didn't change like she had wanted at the beginning but learned to love herself.
thebookberrie's review against another edition
This is going to be a very quick one because I'm boo boo the fool YET AGAIN reading a middle grade novel when I already knew I didn't vibe with them!
This book is an Alice in Wonderland retelling, with a young girl named Alice falling into the land Furthermore, in search of her father.
The writing was interesting, told in the style of the author personally telling the reader a story and it was fun enough. But it was (obviously) very young and bizarre and didn't work for me. This entire book is just endless nonsense after more nonsense all in the name of being quirky and wacky and I've never been a fan of actual nonsense. Meanwhile they kept saying how the MC and her friend were 12 years old and omg stop reminding me how much this book wasn't for me.
This book is an Alice in Wonderland retelling, with a young girl named Alice falling into the land Furthermore, in search of her father.
The writing was interesting, told in the style of the author personally telling the reader a story and it was fun enough. But it was (obviously) very young and bizarre and didn't work for me. This entire book is just endless nonsense after more nonsense all in the name of being quirky and wacky and I've never been a fan of actual nonsense. Meanwhile they kept saying how the MC and her friend were 12 years old and omg stop reminding me how much this book wasn't for me.
erine's review against another edition
4.0
With echoes of Alice in Wonderland (strange magic and curious things), The Giver (bestowing tasks on twelve-year-olds), A Wrinkle in Time (a quest to find a father), The Phantom Tollbooth (measuring time with a ruler), and even The Thief of Always (a sinister underbelly of a world), this story pays lovely homage to a number of other stories without losing sight of itself (I’m looking at you, The Magicians).
The language was delightful and whimsical, offering a stark contrast to the darker parts of the tale. The ending was rather pat, but the only element I really didn’t care for was the interaction between Oliver and Alice right after they got to Furthermore. He was deliberately misleading in such a way that left Alice seeming crazy in a manner akin to gaslighting.
The language was delightful and whimsical, offering a stark contrast to the darker parts of the tale. The ending was rather pat, but the only element I really didn’t care for was the interaction between Oliver and Alice right after they got to Furthermore. He was deliberately misleading in such a way that left Alice seeming crazy in a manner akin to gaslighting.
elise_is_writing's review against another edition
5.0
I think this might be one of the sweetest, funniest, most magical middle grade novels I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I didn't want the story to end!
nateoldrin's review against another edition
5.0
I won’t lie that I picked up this book based on the cover – a thing I do more often than I’d care to admit, and boy was I not disappointed.
First of all, this book’s world building is exquisite, and what’s even more exquisite is that you aren’t given all the information all at once; since the characters already know everything about their home, it’s normal that the narration wouldn’t view them thinking about their world in a way they would describe it to an outsider. The pacing is steady, so that when you do find out things, little by little, you are only filled with wonder and a twinge of impatience to find out more and more and more – impatience that is rewarded very soon, but never too soon. Perfect balance. Furthermore itself, as a world, is an absolute delight and a perfect example of abstract thinking and enormous imagination. Everything in it challenges you to think outside the box and go, You know what, that actually does make sense when you look at it from this specific angle… it truly, completely conveys the dangers in delight and the delights in danger, and I really want to have just an encyclopedia of it.
The characters are truly wonderful – each vivid and unique, and above all of course stands our Alice, wonderful Alice who fell down into an unknown world so twisted up and wonderful that we, just like her, have no idea if right is right and left is left. I do wonder if the name Alice was a reference to Alice in Wonderland, considering the plot…? Either way, each step of her journey is so vividly colored with emotion and adventure that your heart races at every moment it should. I found myself having to take a pause at the intense parts, simply because Alice’s distress was so well-conveyed that I felt I had to take a breath myself. Oliver is lovable, wonderful, and along with Alice you learn to love and appreciate him, you learn to get to know him and cherish him and cheer for his future. Both of the kids have marvelous development, so well-written that you don’t even notice until you’ve reached the end and can say, Wow, they’ve changed a lot!
The most skillfully done part, I believe, is the absolute mastery with which Alice’s talent is kept from the readers. You get hints and quips at it, you are told that Alice hates it, you get the sense that it is probably incredible, but you really have absolutely no idea what it could be – or if you have a theory, everything is vague enough so that when it is revealed, somewhere halfway through the book (and the author knows all too well how anticipated the moment is that the narration itself tells you, I know, Sorry for keeping it a secret, you probably have theories don’t you?) you are ecstatic. You want to clap your hands and cheer because it really is absolutely and entirely incredible, even if looking back it should have been obvious, the very fact that it was so masterfully hidden boosts my rating by a thousand.
The ending was so extremely satisfying and so extremely rewarding; there was nothing that made me feel disappointed, nothing that made me feel like I’d wasted my time.
My few very tiny issues were: the fact that I simply want to know what happened to all the characters in Furthermore once they were off-screen (or off-page, as it were), more about the lore of that world because it is massive, and I wish Alice’s mother wasn’t forgiven so easily. I wish Alice had been angrier with her than she was, and I also wish she had some sense to be somewhat angry with her father, but I’m trying to remember that Alice is still very young, and probably sees her parents, as everything else around her, in terms of black and white. Maybe when she gets older, these feelings will be more complicated.
Those things, however, were very small and in no way took away from my enjoyment. Also, there’s more books that seem to take place in the same universe, so who knows! We may just find out everything eventually!
// https://firebirdreviews.wordpress.com/
First of all, this book’s world building is exquisite, and what’s even more exquisite is that you aren’t given all the information all at once; since the characters already know everything about their home, it’s normal that the narration wouldn’t view them thinking about their world in a way they would describe it to an outsider. The pacing is steady, so that when you do find out things, little by little, you are only filled with wonder and a twinge of impatience to find out more and more and more – impatience that is rewarded very soon, but never too soon. Perfect balance. Furthermore itself, as a world, is an absolute delight and a perfect example of abstract thinking and enormous imagination. Everything in it challenges you to think outside the box and go, You know what, that actually does make sense when you look at it from this specific angle… it truly, completely conveys the dangers in delight and the delights in danger, and I really want to have just an encyclopedia of it.
The characters are truly wonderful – each vivid and unique, and above all of course stands our Alice, wonderful Alice who fell down into an unknown world so twisted up and wonderful that we, just like her, have no idea if right is right and left is left. I do wonder if the name Alice was a reference to Alice in Wonderland, considering the plot…? Either way, each step of her journey is so vividly colored with emotion and adventure that your heart races at every moment it should. I found myself having to take a pause at the intense parts, simply because Alice’s distress was so well-conveyed that I felt I had to take a breath myself. Oliver is lovable, wonderful, and along with Alice you learn to love and appreciate him, you learn to get to know him and cherish him and cheer for his future. Both of the kids have marvelous development, so well-written that you don’t even notice until you’ve reached the end and can say, Wow, they’ve changed a lot!
The most skillfully done part, I believe, is the absolute mastery with which Alice’s talent is kept from the readers. You get hints and quips at it, you are told that Alice hates it, you get the sense that it is probably incredible, but you really have absolutely no idea what it could be – or if you have a theory, everything is vague enough so that when it is revealed, somewhere halfway through the book (and the author knows all too well how anticipated the moment is that the narration itself tells you, I know, Sorry for keeping it a secret, you probably have theories don’t you?) you are ecstatic. You want to clap your hands and cheer because it really is absolutely and entirely incredible, even if looking back it should have been obvious, the very fact that it was so masterfully hidden boosts my rating by a thousand.
The ending was so extremely satisfying and so extremely rewarding; there was nothing that made me feel disappointed, nothing that made me feel like I’d wasted my time.
My few very tiny issues were: the fact that I simply want to know what happened to all the characters in Furthermore once they were off-screen (or off-page, as it were), more about the lore of that world because it is massive, and I wish Alice’s mother wasn’t forgiven so easily. I wish Alice had been angrier with her than she was, and I also wish she had some sense to be somewhat angry with her father, but I’m trying to remember that Alice is still very young, and probably sees her parents, as everything else around her, in terms of black and white. Maybe when she gets older, these feelings will be more complicated.
Those things, however, were very small and in no way took away from my enjoyment. Also, there’s more books that seem to take place in the same universe, so who knows! We may just find out everything eventually!
// https://firebirdreviews.wordpress.com/
3mmakatariina's review against another edition
3.0
I had a bit higher expectations for this one. The plot was really interesting as was the main characters looks but it was a little slow. The writing was beautiful. The friendship Alice and Oliver was beautiful and who doesn't love a happy ending?