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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
3.5 definitely the best of the series so far but I’m not as in love with these as I was the first time!
Fabulous continuation of the story, again with beautiful illustrations, very much enjoyed this installment.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
This series is getting better and better! I loved the element of elves, and definitely loved Aunt Lucinda. I was at a basketball game, so I brought this with me, not thinking I would read it. PROVED MYSELF WRONG.
totally should've read this series earlier in my life but oh well
adventurous
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Yet another fun adventure with Jared, Simon, and Mallory as they explore more of the faerie world. They meet their aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, hoping to find answers, but things might be more of a mystery than ever. What started out as a fun adventure is becoming more and more dangerous the more the children learn.
For being such short stories, these really pack in a lot and manage to develop the characters very well. Each of the three siblings has their own distinct voice and you can pick that up as you read. You can also see how each of them deals with their frustrations over their situation and it makes them more relatable.
This third installment escalates the mystery that has been building, making me eager to continue onto the penultimate novel.
For being such short stories, these really pack in a lot and manage to develop the characters very well. Each of the three siblings has their own distinct voice and you can pick that up as you read. You can also see how each of them deals with their frustrations over their situation and it makes them more relatable.
This third installment escalates the mystery that has been building, making me eager to continue onto the penultimate novel.
This series is so delightfully creepy, albeit in a child-appropriate way. The highlight of this installment is the children's visit to Aunt Lucinda, who is in an asylum and at the mercy of the faeries. I loved the introduction of intergenerational relationships and plot lines, as well as a few more fantastical creatures.
Once again we join the twins & their sister for a tale of spooky faeries and magic most sinister!!
This time round they have a run in with a phooka, (Oh do tell me how you pronounce that...), who tells them all they need to know - but they don't listen because he says it all riddley-like and gosh are these kids ever impatient and a wee smidgen daft?
Then there's elves, oh my!
And a unicorn with a face that hasn't seen happiness since the 1700's!
(You sort of understand why when you get to know his story)
Using clever trickery, because the elves are also impatient and a wee smidgen daft, our clever heroes manage to find more pieces of the puzzle that is the Spiderwick family and it's relationship to the world of fairy!
Cracking good reading, great fun even for us older sorts!
On to book 4!
This time round they have a run in with a phooka, (Oh do tell me how you pronounce that...), who tells them all they need to know - but they don't listen because he says it all riddley-like and gosh are these kids ever impatient and a wee smidgen daft?
Then there's elves, oh my!
And a unicorn with a face that hasn't seen happiness since the 1700's!
(You sort of understand why when you get to know his story)
Using clever trickery, because the elves are also impatient and a wee smidgen daft, our clever heroes manage to find more pieces of the puzzle that is the Spiderwick family and it's relationship to the world of fairy!
Cracking good reading, great fun even for us older sorts!
On to book 4!
They may have dealt with the whole goblin disaster for the moment, but the problems are not over for the kids of the Spiderwick Chronicles. Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's "Lucinda's Secret" provides a little back history to this brief series, as well as expanding the world of the fairies AND introducing the elusive Great Aunt Lucinda. Also: spooky wood elves.
A fight breaks out among the siblings -- Mallory wants to destroy the Guide, Jared wants to keep it, and Simon is sort of in the middle. To find out more about the fairies and the Guide, the kids go to visit their Great-Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, and she's more than happy to fill them in on some of the backstory of the fairies and the Guide.
But things go wrong the moment they go home. Thimbletack has stolen the Guide, and while searching for it the kids discover a map of the nearby areas -- which turn out to have dangerous, mesmerizing fairy creatures lurking there. To get what they want, they will have to find the elves who dwell in the forest... but the elves might be just as dangerous as all the other creatures.
The "Spiderwick Chronicles" seems to have an unseen checklist of supernatural creatures to go through -- and in "Lucinda's Secret" we've got phookas and forest elves that are elegant, eerie and very dangerous. What's more, Black and DiTerlizzi unveil some new surprises for their audiences, including a major villain that is presumably going to loom large in the rest of the series.
As usual, Black's prose is a delicate shadowed thing, draped lightly in leaves and filled with sparkling moments ("The fruit smelled of fresh grass and honey, and was enclosed in a papery skin, but underneath Jared could see the red flesh"). And DiTerlizzi's old-fasioned ink drawings have the right mixture of delicacy and otherworldliness to match Black's work.
The twins seem to be a bit more attuned to the fairy world in this book, and are figuring out the loopholes to slip through. Mallory is a bossy pain, though her care for the gryphon Byron and the unicorn is rather touching. The most fascinating character is undoubtedly Great Aunt Lucinda, an aged lady who has spent most of her life seeing (and sometimes being tormented by) faerie creatures, and can't even eat human food any longer.
"Lucinda's Secret" introduces some new supernatural creatures and new plot twists to the Spiderwick Chronicles -- it's a bit short on plot, but a nice middle volume.
A fight breaks out among the siblings -- Mallory wants to destroy the Guide, Jared wants to keep it, and Simon is sort of in the middle. To find out more about the fairies and the Guide, the kids go to visit their Great-Aunt Lucinda Spiderwick, and she's more than happy to fill them in on some of the backstory of the fairies and the Guide.
But things go wrong the moment they go home. Thimbletack has stolen the Guide, and while searching for it the kids discover a map of the nearby areas -- which turn out to have dangerous, mesmerizing fairy creatures lurking there. To get what they want, they will have to find the elves who dwell in the forest... but the elves might be just as dangerous as all the other creatures.
The "Spiderwick Chronicles" seems to have an unseen checklist of supernatural creatures to go through -- and in "Lucinda's Secret" we've got phookas and forest elves that are elegant, eerie and very dangerous. What's more, Black and DiTerlizzi unveil some new surprises for their audiences, including a major villain that is presumably going to loom large in the rest of the series.
As usual, Black's prose is a delicate shadowed thing, draped lightly in leaves and filled with sparkling moments ("The fruit smelled of fresh grass and honey, and was enclosed in a papery skin, but underneath Jared could see the red flesh"). And DiTerlizzi's old-fasioned ink drawings have the right mixture of delicacy and otherworldliness to match Black's work.
The twins seem to be a bit more attuned to the fairy world in this book, and are figuring out the loopholes to slip through. Mallory is a bossy pain, though her care for the gryphon Byron and the unicorn is rather touching. The most fascinating character is undoubtedly Great Aunt Lucinda, an aged lady who has spent most of her life seeing (and sometimes being tormented by) faerie creatures, and can't even eat human food any longer.
"Lucinda's Secret" introduces some new supernatural creatures and new plot twists to the Spiderwick Chronicles -- it's a bit short on plot, but a nice middle volume.