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jswann4's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.0
loved the writing, very whimsical and childlike, a fun narration but I felt like the story fell flat. I kept waiting for certain aspects to be elaborated on, while being bored over what was give explicit detail. didn’t hold my attention as much as i wanted, which was a shame because i felt like it had great bones and a really likable voice. Still enjoyed, but felt lacking/slow:(
bribliography's review against another edition
3.0
kind of like if lemony snicket wrote the chronicles of narnia
katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Great concept, if horrific for language lovers!
One morning, Dhikilo wakes up and notices that nobody is saying the letter D anymore. It's missing from road signs. And it's only her that seems able to talk about it.
A mix of features from The Phantom Tollbooth and Ella Minnow Pea (yes that's a book title) is woven into the fantasy story, where the girl and a dog/sphinx are tasked by her ancient history teacher to travel into another world and try and fix the problem, before it become permanent.
Episodic in a Wonderland-type way, Dhikilo and Nelly Robinson (best dog name ever?) have to learn to work together and face up to various problems, foes and threats as they try to work out what has happened and how - and if - they can stop the loss of a letter for good.
There was less wordplay than I was expecting for a book about language. I found it a little hard to listen to the audio version with missing letters as it was sometimes tricky to work out what words were being spoken, though context did resolve this.
A decent adventure with some memorable scenes and minor characters, and nice to see Dhikilo, herself from another culture and adopted, at the forefront and standing up for her roots, her name and her culture (it's Somaliland NOT Somalia).
Probably for ages 9 and above.
One morning, Dhikilo wakes up and notices that nobody is saying the letter D anymore. It's missing from road signs. And it's only her that seems able to talk about it.
A mix of features from The Phantom Tollbooth and Ella Minnow Pea (yes that's a book title) is woven into the fantasy story, where the girl and a dog/sphinx are tasked by her ancient history teacher to travel into another world and try and fix the problem, before it become permanent.
Episodic in a Wonderland-type way, Dhikilo and Nelly Robinson (best dog name ever?) have to learn to work together and face up to various problems, foes and threats as they try to work out what has happened and how - and if - they can stop the loss of a letter for good.
There was less wordplay than I was expecting for a book about language. I found it a little hard to listen to the audio version with missing letters as it was sometimes tricky to work out what words were being spoken, though context did resolve this.
A decent adventure with some memorable scenes and minor characters, and nice to see Dhikilo, herself from another culture and adopted, at the forefront and standing up for her roots, her name and her culture (it's Somaliland NOT Somalia).
Probably for ages 9 and above.
annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition
3.0
When I got this book I was quite sure that this was one of the prettiest and most beautiful books I had ever seen and since it seemed to be quite a fairytale I was quite excited to get started. However, since this is a Book Box Club book I had to wait patiently until it was time for our buddy read to get started. Since the author chat with the previous author was last week however, this week we could finally open the book and see if the story was as beautiful as its cover.
And now I've finished this book I'm not entirely sure what to think of it. This story should have been my thing. I'm a huge lover of Alice in Wonderland. I love middle grades. I love fantasy worlds and weirdness. But somehow this story never really grabbed me. I was reading it, I was making progress and I wasn't hating it or disliking it, but I was not really looking forward to picking it back up and I wasn't really enjoying it either.
I just can't really say why. Something was missing. Something that I had expected to be there. I think partly it might be magic. Although our heroine was in a lot of weird situations, none of them really seemed enchanting or magical. I actually think that only two things really were magical. Another thing that might not have helped, is that it somehow seems like our heroine is on an important journey to save the world, but it feels like eventually she's not really doing much. It's very much simply some sort of luck that everything works out?
I'm also asking myself, what kind of person is our main heroine actually? And I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure? She seems kind, she's young (only 13, which also didn't help because I was expecting a YA when I started, my fault) and there are moments she seems highly intelligent, coming with quite nice solutions for her issues and problems. But I never really connected with her and I also had some trouble really caring about her.
I guess that it's a case of me being the wrong reader for this book?
And now I've finished this book I'm not entirely sure what to think of it. This story should have been my thing. I'm a huge lover of Alice in Wonderland. I love middle grades. I love fantasy worlds and weirdness. But somehow this story never really grabbed me. I was reading it, I was making progress and I wasn't hating it or disliking it, but I was not really looking forward to picking it back up and I wasn't really enjoying it either.
I just can't really say why. Something was missing. Something that I had expected to be there. I think partly it might be magic. Although our heroine was in a lot of weird situations, none of them really seemed enchanting or magical. I actually think that only two things really were magical. Another thing that might not have helped, is that it somehow seems like our heroine is on an important journey to save the world, but it feels like eventually she's not really doing much. It's very much simply some sort of luck that everything works out?
I'm also asking myself, what kind of person is our main heroine actually? And I have to admit that I'm not entirely sure? She seems kind, she's young (only 13, which also didn't help because I was expecting a YA when I started, my fault) and there are moments she seems highly intelligent, coming with quite nice solutions for her issues and problems. But I never really connected with her and I also had some trouble really caring about her.
I guess that it's a case of me being the wrong reader for this book?
acascadeofbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
han_nur's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
angelamichelle's review against another edition
3.0
Fun little tale. A cross between Narnia and Oz and maybe Pilgrim’s Progress. Felt a little random and pointless in places, but had a lovely through line on kindness and connection.
cshadows2887's review against another edition
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
sherlockalex63's review against another edition
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5