Scan barcode
Reviews
Eva Ibbotson 3-in-1: Which Witch?, The Secret of Platform 13 & Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson
daisycakesco's review
4.0
I've read everything in this book except for Island of the Aunts, so that's the one I'm reading now. Loving it so far!
pinoncoffee's review
3.0
I haven’t ever read Ibbotson, so I didn’t know what to expect. To sum up: it’s *mixed*. These don’t have anything very bad in them, well, more or less, but they also don’t have anything very good. Call it “virtue,” or “militant decency,” or a soul, or a spine—they don’t have much of it and it’s just so empty. And that’s why I won’t hand these to my kids.
::mild spoilers::
“Which Witch?” is probably the weakest of the three. It’s like The Bachelorette but with witches trying to impress a lone wizard, who mainly is attractive because plot. The central conceit was the magic users all treat bad as good and the heroine witch is embarrassed about her white magic and wants to be bad—like Megamind. “You just don’t know what’s good for bad!” But while Megamind came to a really emotionally satisfying conclusion, I don’t think Ibbotson managed to pull it off. I sort of marvel that so many female characters had so little to talk about but the marriage contest! I also believe newlyweds should be allowed to kiss on their wedding night, even in a children’s book. The whole thing felt silly.
“The Secret of Platform 13” did a much better job suspending my disbelief. This was probably my favorite. I am a little disturbed by her casual approach to kidnapping as solution to problems, and also with the Wailing Nurses’ self-imposed penances. They were just—disproportionate. This book has a ton in common with Harry Potter, including an evil piglike quasi-brother. I would like the fat-people-as-villain trope to die. Clearly she and Rowling are working with the same literary and cultural heritage. But Rowling’s characters are far more nuanced and have arcs and redemption and stuff.
“Island of the Aunts” took that freewheeling kidnapping motif and made it the central plot. She did sort of drop consequences on the protagonists for it—but meliorated because after all the kidnappings were in a good cause. I think the most surprising part of this was, dropped in among the judgy adjectives and rather obvious 1990s environmentalism, there was… the numinous. The kraken was like a god, and where he came, all was more itself and more beautiful and just more. Astonishing.
::mild spoilers::
“Which Witch?” is probably the weakest of the three. It’s like The Bachelorette but with witches trying to impress a lone wizard, who mainly is attractive because plot. The central conceit was the magic users all treat bad as good and the heroine witch is embarrassed about her white magic and wants to be bad—like Megamind. “You just don’t know what’s good for bad!” But while Megamind came to a really emotionally satisfying conclusion, I don’t think Ibbotson managed to pull it off. I sort of marvel that so many female characters had so little to talk about but the marriage contest! I also believe newlyweds should be allowed to kiss on their wedding night, even in a children’s book. The whole thing felt silly.
“The Secret of Platform 13” did a much better job suspending my disbelief. This was probably my favorite. I am a little disturbed by her casual approach to kidnapping as solution to problems, and also with the Wailing Nurses’ self-imposed penances. They were just—disproportionate. This book has a ton in common with Harry Potter, including an evil piglike quasi-brother. I would like the fat-people-as-villain trope to die. Clearly she and Rowling are working with the same literary and cultural heritage. But Rowling’s characters are far more nuanced and have arcs and redemption and stuff.
“Island of the Aunts” took that freewheeling kidnapping motif and made it the central plot. She did sort of drop consequences on the protagonists for it—but meliorated because after all the kidnappings were in a good cause. I think the most surprising part of this was, dropped in among the judgy adjectives and rather obvious 1990s environmentalism, there was… the numinous. The kraken was like a god, and where he came, all was more itself and more beautiful and just more. Astonishing.
lucadesu's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful stories of magic and goodness in a world troubled by adult humans.
More...