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rjdenney's review against another edition
5.0
Read it when I was younger but re-read it for #JOHNBELLAIRSMONTH. Still as awesome and spooky as before. :)
rjdenney's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorites from John's work! a perfect summer read.
posies23's review against another edition
4.0
After the disappointing TROLLEY TO YESTERDAY, this books is a return to form for Bellairs. Instead of the weird slapstick comedy of the previous installment, Johnny, Fergie, and the Professor are back in familiar creepy territory. This time, the boys and the professor have to deal with mysterious happenings in an old estate that was once owned by the professor's brother. As usual, there are mysterious forces at work, and time is running out for our protagonists.
While there are several unbelievable plot twists and coincidences, Bellairs does a nice job of helping readers suspend their disbelief, and the character's actions don't seem as forced as in TIME TROLLEY.
There are only two more books that were written entirely by Bellairs, so I'm going to take a little break before I dive into them.
While there are several unbelievable plot twists and coincidences, Bellairs does a nice job of helping readers suspend their disbelief, and the character's actions don't seem as forced as in TIME TROLLEY.
There are only two more books that were written entirely by Bellairs, so I'm going to take a little break before I dive into them.
schwimfan's review
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.5
addiestanley's review against another edition
2.0
This book series strikes me as the type that childhood readers fondly remember and occasionally reread, but exist as great books only in the realm of nostalgia. This one was a quick, easy read and I probably would have really enjoyed the mystery and magical elements as a kid, but as an adult....eh. It was fine.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
This book has the magic. It was so good. It is set in Maine at a big mansion in the middle of nowhere. Johnny, the professor and Fergie need to spend the summer at this mansion so the professor can inherit it from his brother. Sounds like a nice summer to everyone. It is not so easy as all that.
I love John Bellairs. His writing style is so simple and straight forward. He seems like he was classically trained. He knows latin and the Roman emperor's and this time around Astronomy and Astrology. He seems to be a treasure trove of knowledge.
I like the character of Johnny Dixon. He is not your typical protagonist. He is meek and a little hesitant and afraid, yet he always faces his fears and jumps right into the scary. Things seem to happen to John anyway.
These books are fantastic and wonderful little stories of gothic occult for young readers and up. I'm so glad I am finally reading this series. I would love to go back and read these as a kid or when they came out. I hope new generations will continue to give these a read.
I love John Bellairs. His writing style is so simple and straight forward. He seems like he was classically trained. He knows latin and the Roman emperor's and this time around Astronomy and Astrology. He seems to be a treasure trove of knowledge.
I like the character of Johnny Dixon. He is not your typical protagonist. He is meek and a little hesitant and afraid, yet he always faces his fears and jumps right into the scary. Things seem to happen to John anyway.
These books are fantastic and wonderful little stories of gothic occult for young readers and up. I'm so glad I am finally reading this series. I would love to go back and read these as a kid or when they came out. I hope new generations will continue to give these a read.
williameldon's review against another edition
4.0
One of the more riveting and well told stories with Johnny Dixon and the Professor, a ton of fun and a good amount of spook and some mildly creepy & disturbing stuff for a kid's book.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
When Professor Childermass' brother Perry dies, he leaves the Prof ten million dollars and his landed estate in Maine. The catch, of course, is that he must spend the summer at the remote country estate with no paid help. Naturally, the Prof is up to the task, but invites Johnny and Fergie to join him. The letter informing the professor of his brother's death comes with a riddle that comes back to haunt the professor. It speaks of pallid dwarves, dead eyes, and hairy stars. What does it mean?
This book is the usual absurd Gothic nonsense I love from Bellairs. The estate is not only large it is filled with "worthless" statuary and books imported from Europe, features a personalized tomb and statue by the front door and a 300ft memorial column - that you can climb up - for General Herkimer of the American Revolutionary War. There's also an observatory, among other things. I wish Bellairs had spent more (read: any) time describing what the boys discover in the house instead of glossing over it. I felt the lack, though child-me filled the mansion with all the Victorian trappings I longed to find in my '80s ranch. Stone Arabia and Lake Umbagog join General Herkimer as real references moved into Bellairs' world, along, of course with some recently stolen ivory chessmen from the British Museum.
Need I go into the plot? A nefarious person plans on ending life on Earth as we know it with the use of ancient, dark magic and ineffectually tries to scare the Prof and the boys from the estate so he has a clear path. He might as well have employed an unnecessarily slow dipping mechanism when he lures the gang out onto the lake. I did love the detail that Professor Roderick Random Childermass and his brothers Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker and Ferdinand Count Fathom were all named after heroes of Tobias Smollett's novels by their literary parents.
'Chessmen of Doom' makes up for its plot - stretched over a year to little purpose - with such details.
Johnny Dixon
Next: 'The Secret of the Underground Room'
Previous: 'The Trolley to Yesterday'
This book is the usual absurd Gothic nonsense I love from Bellairs. The estate is not only large it is filled with "worthless" statuary and books imported from Europe, features a personalized tomb and statue by the front door and a 300ft memorial column - that you can climb up - for General Herkimer of the American Revolutionary War. There's also an observatory, among other things. I wish Bellairs had spent more (read: any) time describing what the boys discover in the house instead of glossing over it. I felt the lack, though child-me filled the mansion with all the Victorian trappings I longed to find in my '80s ranch. Stone Arabia and Lake Umbagog join General Herkimer as real references moved into Bellairs' world, along, of course with some recently stolen ivory chessmen from the British Museum.
Need I go into the plot? A nefarious person plans on ending life on Earth as we know it with the use of ancient, dark magic and ineffectually tries to scare the Prof and the boys from the estate so he has a clear path. He might as well have employed an unnecessarily slow dipping mechanism when he lures the gang out onto the lake. I did love the detail that Professor Roderick Random Childermass and his brothers Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker and Ferdinand Count Fathom were all named after heroes of Tobias Smollett's novels by their literary parents.
'Chessmen of Doom' makes up for its plot - stretched over a year to little purpose - with such details.
Johnny Dixon
Next: 'The Secret of the Underground Room'
Previous: 'The Trolley to Yesterday'
audreyintheheadphones's review
2.0
Oh, 12-year-old self.
100 pages of awesome (eccentric WWI vet/professor whose brother leaves him a haunted mansion and a doomsday prophecy) followed by 55 pages of drek (slow pacing, too much Fergie, deus ex machina and bonus misogyny). But those first 100 pages do give good Maine, so there's that.
100 pages of awesome (eccentric WWI vet/professor whose brother leaves him a haunted mansion and a doomsday prophecy) followed by 55 pages of drek (slow pacing, too much Fergie, deus ex machina and bonus misogyny). But those first 100 pages do give good Maine, so there's that.
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