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stuarts_stories88's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
lmn9812's review
5.0
This is VERY high praise, and I’m well aware of the connotations of the comparisons I’m making, but this book gave me serious DISCWORLD meets ROALD DAHL vibes, whilst at the same time being completely and utterly original in concept. It was fantastic–imaginative and full of wonder, with an irresistibly likeable main character in Flick. This is gonna be the next Big Thing, I can feel it.
Whilst reading THE STRANGEWORLD’S TRAVEL AGENCY, I was completely struck by the sheer amount of work and word building that had obviously gone into crafting this book, and the multiverse it contains. It was extraordinary–each world felt like it could have been written about for a WHOLE BOOK, and that is the mark of creating a compelling and believable fantasy story. I adored the writing–it was gorgeous and fun at the same time, and at one point there was even a slinky reference! A SLINKY REFERENCE! (not gonna lie, reading that sentence made me want to dig out my old box of childhood treasures and bounce my slinky down the stairs!)
Flick, our main character, was fabulous. Sure of herself, a little too adult for her age, and living in a new house with very busy parents and a cute (but sometimes tiresome) baby brother. She was smart, loyal and utter believable as a kid in an extraordinary circumstance. I related to Jonathan, the acting custodian of the travel agency, a little too hard. He was only just an adult, and at one point in the book he mentioned wanting an adultier adult to help him–I CAN’T COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES I’VE THOUGHT THAT EXACT THING! Searching for his father, who mysteriously disappeared in another world before the events of the book, Jonathan is Flick’s erstwhile guide to being a world traveller. Their partnership and friendship was a delight.
The plot was fun, full of mystery, and entirely unpredictable. I was hooked from chapter one, and I devoured the story, desperate to find out the ending. The stakes were VERY high–a whole world was in danger–and the danger of that permeated the story. As I turned to the final page, I was very excited to see the words ‘To be continued’ written. This is the kind of story that almost begs for a sequel–I want to visit more worlds, I want to uncover more secrets about the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, but most of all, I want to see Jonathan and Flick go on more adventures. This is one of my favourite books of 2020 so far and I can’t wait to read more!
Whilst reading THE STRANGEWORLD’S TRAVEL AGENCY, I was completely struck by the sheer amount of work and word building that had obviously gone into crafting this book, and the multiverse it contains. It was extraordinary–each world felt like it could have been written about for a WHOLE BOOK, and that is the mark of creating a compelling and believable fantasy story. I adored the writing–it was gorgeous and fun at the same time, and at one point there was even a slinky reference! A SLINKY REFERENCE! (not gonna lie, reading that sentence made me want to dig out my old box of childhood treasures and bounce my slinky down the stairs!)
Flick, our main character, was fabulous. Sure of herself, a little too adult for her age, and living in a new house with very busy parents and a cute (but sometimes tiresome) baby brother. She was smart, loyal and utter believable as a kid in an extraordinary circumstance. I related to Jonathan, the acting custodian of the travel agency, a little too hard. He was only just an adult, and at one point in the book he mentioned wanting an adultier adult to help him–I CAN’T COUNT THE NUMBER OF TIMES I’VE THOUGHT THAT EXACT THING! Searching for his father, who mysteriously disappeared in another world before the events of the book, Jonathan is Flick’s erstwhile guide to being a world traveller. Their partnership and friendship was a delight.
The plot was fun, full of mystery, and entirely unpredictable. I was hooked from chapter one, and I devoured the story, desperate to find out the ending. The stakes were VERY high–a whole world was in danger–and the danger of that permeated the story. As I turned to the final page, I was very excited to see the words ‘To be continued’ written. This is the kind of story that almost begs for a sequel–I want to visit more worlds, I want to uncover more secrets about the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, but most of all, I want to see Jonathan and Flick go on more adventures. This is one of my favourite books of 2020 so far and I can’t wait to read more!
engrossedreader's review
2.0
vickylovesreading's review
5.0
I was absolutely delighted to be able to read this, because it has been highly recommended to me on twitter. It did not disappoint one bit!
This was a thrill ride the whole way through, I only picked it up this morning and I've already devoured it. I love the magic system - the schisms in the suitcases, so fascinating and now I want to go on an otherworlds adventure of my own. There was mystery, intrigue...so many different things that I enjoyed. Jonathan and Flick were both highly likeable characters. Glad there's going to be another one, and I cannot wait.
This was a thrill ride the whole way through, I only picked it up this morning and I've already devoured it. I love the magic system - the schisms in the suitcases, so fascinating and now I want to go on an otherworlds adventure of my own. There was mystery, intrigue...so many different things that I enjoyed. Jonathan and Flick were both highly likeable characters. Glad there's going to be another one, and I cannot wait.
someonetookit's review
5.0
So, I got a copy of this one from the amazing peeps at Hachette Australia after completely forgetting I had requested this one thanks to the kidlet. I feel like she asked simply because of that amazing cover, but honestly, I’m super glad she was being nosy that day.
Now we all know I am a sucker for pretty things. Apparently so is my child… With intriguing imagery and beautiful cover illustrations, I feel like this is guaranteed to draw the eye of even the most discerning child. It honestly reminded me of the old Harry Potter covers.
If you didn’t already gather from the fact that my 11 year old asked me to request it, Strangeworlds Travel Agency is a middle grade novel. Its light and fluffy and cute but also has a greater meaning underlying the whole thing. Whilst on the surface its about a girl who stumbles into a magical travel agency (there’s no planes, just links between worlds in the form of suitcases) and has an amazing adventure, to the watchful eye its about so much more. Thematically its really kind of about found family and the power of friendship, whilst also teaching life lessons about sticking by those you love and remaining true to yourself when others just want to judge you. Its also kind of got the whole ‘Chosen One’ vibe but its just a fun ‘oh wow, I did a thing’ rather than prophetic.
The main two characters, Flick and Johnathon, come together under some pretty ordinary circumstances when Felicity walks into Johnathon’s store on a neighbourhood exploration mission. Soon it turns into the fantastical when J finds out the Flick can see magic and he quickly endeavours to employ her to work alongside him at his agency. The two have some amazing dialogue with Johnathon being very dry and upfront while Flick likes to see the good side of everyone and everything around her. Their friendship blossoms into something that every parent wishes to see for their children – it is a little weird when you realise that J is 18 and F is 12 and they go off on adventures together BUT its more a sibling type relationship than anything else. Honestly, I just want to squeeze their little cheeks while also reprimanding them both for disappearing into other worlds without telling anyone.
So, it’s really hard to discuss this in-depth without going into spoiler territory but what I will say is that the narrative takes them to many wonderous places while all leading to the end goal of finding *redacted*. Over the course of their adventures, they learn life lessons and more about themselves in such a way that the whole thing is just so damned cute that I binged the entire 380 pages in just under 2.5 hours (I literally only got this novel in the mail yesterday… my bad). There’s intrigue and adventure, excitement and some pretty emotionally charged bits but it all comes together in such a genius way that its almost impossible to pick it apart.
This is where I’ll wrap it up because to be blunt, you really just need to read this and dive into its wonderment wholeheartedly. It’s a cute novel with so much going on that you will be hooked from the first page. The whole thing is like Miss Peregrine had a baby with NPH’s The Magical Misfits but with a really sweet twist to it (also sans orphans). The cover is to die for and so is the world building. Its also a book that is obviously quite strongly about morality. Basically, I loved it and want to throw it in the face of whomsoever next requests for me to recommend them a really great MG novel. Also, its so ridiculously open to sequels so I mean, keep em coming Lapinski!
Now we all know I am a sucker for pretty things. Apparently so is my child… With intriguing imagery and beautiful cover illustrations, I feel like this is guaranteed to draw the eye of even the most discerning child. It honestly reminded me of the old Harry Potter covers.
If you didn’t already gather from the fact that my 11 year old asked me to request it, Strangeworlds Travel Agency is a middle grade novel. Its light and fluffy and cute but also has a greater meaning underlying the whole thing. Whilst on the surface its about a girl who stumbles into a magical travel agency (there’s no planes, just links between worlds in the form of suitcases) and has an amazing adventure, to the watchful eye its about so much more. Thematically its really kind of about found family and the power of friendship, whilst also teaching life lessons about sticking by those you love and remaining true to yourself when others just want to judge you. Its also kind of got the whole ‘Chosen One’ vibe but its just a fun ‘oh wow, I did a thing’ rather than prophetic.
The main two characters, Flick and Johnathon, come together under some pretty ordinary circumstances when Felicity walks into Johnathon’s store on a neighbourhood exploration mission. Soon it turns into the fantastical when J finds out the Flick can see magic and he quickly endeavours to employ her to work alongside him at his agency. The two have some amazing dialogue with Johnathon being very dry and upfront while Flick likes to see the good side of everyone and everything around her. Their friendship blossoms into something that every parent wishes to see for their children – it is a little weird when you realise that J is 18 and F is 12 and they go off on adventures together BUT its more a sibling type relationship than anything else. Honestly, I just want to squeeze their little cheeks while also reprimanding them both for disappearing into other worlds without telling anyone.
So, it’s really hard to discuss this in-depth without going into spoiler territory but what I will say is that the narrative takes them to many wonderous places while all leading to the end goal of finding *redacted*. Over the course of their adventures, they learn life lessons and more about themselves in such a way that the whole thing is just so damned cute that I binged the entire 380 pages in just under 2.5 hours (I literally only got this novel in the mail yesterday… my bad). There’s intrigue and adventure, excitement and some pretty emotionally charged bits but it all comes together in such a genius way that its almost impossible to pick it apart.
This is where I’ll wrap it up because to be blunt, you really just need to read this and dive into its wonderment wholeheartedly. It’s a cute novel with so much going on that you will be hooked from the first page. The whole thing is like Miss Peregrine had a baby with NPH’s The Magical Misfits but with a really sweet twist to it (also sans orphans). The cover is to die for and so is the world building. Its also a book that is obviously quite strongly about morality. Basically, I loved it and want to throw it in the face of whomsoever next requests for me to recommend them a really great MG novel. Also, its so ridiculously open to sequels so I mean, keep em coming Lapinski!
raygainford's review
3.0
Obviously I’ve well outgrown the target demographic for this book, but I still love reading books for younger readers, and some of my favourite books are children’s books that I’ve read as an adult. I had heard good things about this series. It was a fun read and had some wonderful ideas but something was a little lacking and it just didn’t really pull me in fully unfortunately. I’m sure it’s target audience will fall in love with it though!
nirwhen's review
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
rebekah_rei's review
5.0
This was such an easy 5 star rating for me!!! I happened upon this book at my local library. Neither the title nor the author were familiar to me. I loved the cover (different than the one here on Goodreads), and the teaser passage on the back cover really intrigued me.
I could not put this down! Such beautiful themes of friendship, honesty, hope, and stewardship. It is truly a magical story, and I can't wait to read the other books in the series!!
I could not put this down! Such beautiful themes of friendship, honesty, hope, and stewardship. It is truly a magical story, and I can't wait to read the other books in the series!!