Reviews

Loved this book as a teen. Rereading as an adult I notice how it's full of thematically coherent metaphor, foreshadowing, imagery, and "casual" descriptions. It's very rich with both this and scientific, literary, and mythological references for a book aimed at young readers. I found this refreshing. It doesn't assume readers are dumb, and also doesn't drop in the references with no explanation (which can leave readers feeling disconnected and uneducated).

I'm sure I was enamored with Mina as a teen too, as I relate to her love for arts and scientific knowledge.

I am a bit uncomfortable reading the children so often touching Skellig without consent, especially when he clearly doesn't want to be. As if he is an animal and a spectacle. Also there's a little bit of fatphobia/body shaming.

As for the audio edition: there was a hint of mouth crackle and the music was a little overdramatic and unnecessary. Some of the dialogue and prose felt stilted when voiced aloud. But overall it was fine.

Content Warnings

mollywetta's review

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5.0

I absolutely loved this! It seemed more middle grade than YA to me, though (and we do have it in the children's room at my library rather than the teen stacks). The writing was effortlessly beautiful, and the magic was subtle and wonderful.

cassie7e's review

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emotional mysterious

5.0

xabbeylongx's review

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Spoilers Ahead:

This book is a whirlwind and I loved every minute of reading it.

We follow Michael as he moves into a new house. His parents have recently had a baby girl, and they need more space. They uproot their lives and move into a house where someone was found dead, and it has a garage that is so rickety and a hazard. Michael is not allowed to go in there, but he does. And when he goes in there, he spots on old man.

He feeds the old man Chinese, aspirin and brown ale, but the man won’t leave. One of his new neighbours, Mina, who is homeschooled, teaches him a lot of things, and he eventually opens up to her.

Because his baby sister was born prematurely, she was having troubles with her heart. In and out of hospital with his mum, Michael spent a lot of time decorating the house with his dad, or visiting Skellig (the old man) with Mina.

One day, his sister has to have an operation. During it, he can’t feel her heartbeat in his anymore, and he gets worried. But Skellig saved her, before growing his wings and flying to somewhere else. His mum dreamt of someone holding the baby, and when Mina drew a photo of Skellig, she was absolutely shocked, but said nothing.

This book was short and snappy, and easy to read. There was a very dry sense of humour to it, which is one of my favourites to read about, and I managed to finish it in two sittings. I thought it was so unironically funny, and I love the characters and all their quirks. This read is just absolutely bizarre, but it’s one of things I love most about it. I resonate with this book quite a lot, and it’s such a good read. I would definitely recommend it!

cami0323's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

rejstone_'s review

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

BEAUTIFUL AND UNFORGETTABLE.
READ KATYA BALEN’S BOOKS AND THE FINAL YEAR IF YOU LOVED THIS

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