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abbey_marie's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It was funny, fast-paced, adventurous, and had great main characters. The overall theme of the book is hopefulness and throughout the story, Cordelia is continuously reminding herself to have hope and showing courage even in the face of challenging circumstances. I think it’s a great book for kids, but I will say that there are some scenes that could be challenging for young readers. Towards the end of the book, there’s more violence and a few gory scenes, not horrible, but they may be a bit disturbing. That’s why I’ve rated this book at 4/5 stars, because it really is a great story with amazing writing and a fantastic set of characters, but there are a few parts that could be a little disturbing to younger readers (or even to adults, perhaps) just due to the imagery.
For example, there’s a scene towards the end where the two antagonists are utilizing evil ingredients to create a conflict and the descriptions of those ingredients were very graphic and involved things like animal guts, tarantulas, writhing millipedes sewn onto a hat, octopus tentacles, etc. that were used to harm someone. I haven’t read the series, but it’s reminiscent of what I’ve heard Harry Potter is like, so if you don’t mind that or you think your child will be alright with that, this book could be a good read for you. Overall, it doesn’t have very many of those scenes and they’re very small passages of the text but I thought it was worth mentioning for anyone dealing with anxiety, intrusive thoughts/imagery, who’s sensitive to violent or graphic imagery, or whose child is sensitive to these things. It may also be triggering if you are going through a period of loss or for those who have lost a parent, so please keep that in mind as well.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Gore and Bullying
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