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128 reviews for:
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book VI: The Long-Lost Home
Maryrose Wood
4.2 AVERAGE
128 reviews for:
The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book VI: The Long-Lost Home
Maryrose Wood
4.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
For all my mixed feelings about this series, it does have a happy and reasonably sayisfying conclusion--it just takes a very long time to get there.
All the various mysteries plaguing Penelope Lumley, her charges, and the Ashton Family get resolved in this final chapter of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, though it will take a good deal of international travel to get there. Penelope, stranded in Russia with a *truly* beastly family, finds a a way to escape her situation, and stumbled upon her past as she makes her way back home.
As mentioned in the last review, there aren't *really* that many surprises left, because it's gotten increasingly easier to read between the lines. What is a surprise is the unlikely redemption of Lady Constance and the fizzling out of the Big Bad in the series as he becomes more and more genuinely unhinged.
For readers looking for books about preternaturally clever children, secrets, and twistiness, I would recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society books or The Willoughbys as stronger follow ups.
Note: Maryrose Wood wrote a beautiful tribute in the Acknowledgments to the narrator of all but one of her Incorrigibles audiobooks, Katherine ("Katy") Kellgren (whom this last book is dedicated to). After doing a bit of a deep dive on this actress and prolific audiobook narrator, I checked out the audio for the first book in the series. If your preferences are for audiobooks, I've heard really good things about the ones for this series. Sadly, Kellgren passed away shortly before the audio was recorded so it is not her on this last one.
All the various mysteries plaguing Penelope Lumley, her charges, and the Ashton Family get resolved in this final chapter of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series, though it will take a good deal of international travel to get there. Penelope, stranded in Russia with a *truly* beastly family, finds a a way to escape her situation, and stumbled upon her past as she makes her way back home.
As mentioned in the last review, there aren't *really* that many surprises left, because it's gotten increasingly easier to read between the lines. What is a surprise is the unlikely redemption of Lady Constance and the fizzling out of the Big Bad in the series as he becomes more and more genuinely unhinged.
For readers looking for books about preternaturally clever children, secrets, and twistiness, I would recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society books or The Willoughbys as stronger follow ups.
Note: Maryrose Wood wrote a beautiful tribute in the Acknowledgments to the narrator of all but one of her Incorrigibles audiobooks, Katherine ("Katy") Kellgren (whom this last book is dedicated to). After doing a bit of a deep dive on this actress and prolific audiobook narrator, I checked out the audio for the first book in the series. If your preferences are for audiobooks, I've heard really good things about the ones for this series. Sadly, Kellgren passed away shortly before the audio was recorded so it is not her on this last one.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-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:
Complicated
This was a fun if somewhat ridiculous end to this delightful middle grade series. The resolution of the curse wasn't fully satisfying for me, and I'm still not entirely sure what happened to Edward Ashton at the end there. Be prepared to fully suspend your disbelief, as there are multiple unlikely coincidences and many slapdash disguises that nonetheless fool others, but if you're along for the ride, it's enjoyable to see everything wrap up at last in a charming and heartwarming conclusion.
My biggest complaint was the treatment of the Babushkinov family; they were certainly conceited and badly behaved, but they weren't cruel or evil, and Penelope fooled them into spending out of their meager funds for an unnecessary trip and a false hope. At the end, she only feels bad about having an unpaid hotel bill (which gets miraculously paid) but spares no empathy for the Babushkinovs, even less so than for Edward Ashton, it seems, who was literally out to commit murder.
Fiona Hardingham did an admirable job trying to live up to the incomparable narration of Katherine Kellgren (who narrated the first five books before passing away from cancer), and while she clearly had studied Kellgren's narration to mimic the different character voices, her inconsistent or incorrect pronunciation of certain words and names was distracting at times, and she sometimes used the wrong voice or even read the wrong word (saying "Lady Ashton" for "Lord Ashton" at one point, for example) and I don't know why that wasn't corrected. But I still give her credit for her heroic effort at an impossible task.
I enjoyed this series very much as an adult, but I'm hesitant to share it with my own children for two main reasons: the frequent use of the slur "g***y" to refer to the soothsaying character throughout the series, and the way the story line emphasizes blood ties as being the definition of family. So I won't be passing it on, but it was a fun adventure to listen to.
My biggest complaint was the treatment of the Babushkinov family; they were certainly conceited and badly behaved, but they weren't cruel or evil, and Penelope fooled them into spending out of their meager funds for an unnecessary trip and a false hope. At the end, she only feels bad about having an unpaid hotel bill (which gets miraculously paid) but spares no empathy for the Babushkinovs, even less so than for Edward Ashton, it seems, who was literally out to commit murder.
Fiona Hardingham did an admirable job trying to live up to the incomparable narration of Katherine Kellgren (who narrated the first five books before passing away from cancer), and while she clearly had studied Kellgren's narration to mimic the different character voices, her inconsistent or incorrect pronunciation of certain words and names was distracting at times, and she sometimes used the wrong voice or even read the wrong word (saying "Lady Ashton" for "Lord Ashton" at one point, for example) and I don't know why that wasn't corrected. But I still give her credit for her heroic effort at an impossible task.
I enjoyed this series very much as an adult, but I'm hesitant to share it with my own children for two main reasons: the frequent use of the slur "g***y" to refer to the soothsaying character throughout the series, and the way the story line emphasizes blood ties as being the definition of family. So I won't be passing it on, but it was a fun adventure to listen to.
A delightful finale to the series! All questions are answered, loose ends tied, yet surprises and a rollicking tone keep this last entry rolling until the final pages. Truly satisfying. Looking forward to whatever Maryrose Wood does next!
I thought this was a satisfying conclusion to one of our favorite series. Like all the other books this one had so many great sayings and funny moments, and we get all the answers...well, most of them.
As for the audiobook--What a huge loss with the passing of Katherine Kellgren. She is still my favorite audiobook narrator. There was no way anyone could live up to her voice and I did go into listening with an open mind, but it really just did not work for me. What a disappointement! I realize that the new narrator had to make it her own, but did she even listen to the last Incorrigible's book before recording? Seriously, she didn't even pronounce Constantin correctly! (look it up--both the Russian and Romanian pronunciation is Constantine and this is how it was pronounced in the last audiobook, which we all remember and this should have been edited!) So, I listened to half of the first disc and quit, but that was okay because I heard Katy's voice in my head the entire time I read the book.
Lastly, I was excited to see the name Shantaloo pop up again! Last winter we adopted a little, orange, tiger kitty with a little white scruff under her chin and my daughter brilliantly thought to name her Shantaloo after Miss Mortimer's cat. Now we know that it is French in origin, Chanteloup, and we will be so much more pretentious and say things like "it's the French pronunciation" in the voice of Sondra from Milo and Otis!
As for the audiobook--What a huge loss with the passing of Katherine Kellgren. She is still my favorite audiobook narrator. There was no way anyone could live up to her voice and I did go into listening with an open mind, but it really just did not work for me. What a disappointement! I realize that the new narrator had to make it her own, but did she even listen to the last Incorrigible's book before recording? Seriously, she didn't even pronounce Constantin correctly! (look it up--both the Russian and Romanian pronunciation is Constantine and this is how it was pronounced in the last audiobook, which we all remember and this should have been edited!) So, I listened to half of the first disc and quit, but that was okay because I heard Katy's voice in my head the entire time I read the book.
Lastly, I was excited to see the name Shantaloo pop up again! Last winter we adopted a little, orange, tiger kitty with a little white scruff under her chin and my daughter brilliantly thought to name her Shantaloo after Miss Mortimer's cat. Now we know that it is French in origin, Chanteloup, and we will be so much more pretentious and say things like "it's the French pronunciation" in the voice of Sondra from Milo and Otis!
Maryrose Wood knows that every happy ending means that women's clothing has pockets and I respect the hell out of that. This series is the best, I love it so much.
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix