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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
Maybe I'm overthinking it: I was having a hard time with the world-building, because the face of American history post-Civil War is radically different in this universe, and yet the characters can go to TJMaxx or Applebee's, and Meryl Streep is still a famous, Oscar-winning actress, even though Hollywood doesn't exist. I was having a hard time just grafting these two sets of information together.
But the book was fun. I guess I'd liken it to a middle-grade version of The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac. Once I learned to ignore the contradictory stuff, I was still hesitant to go along with some of the story. So many things happen so quickly, without ever giving one event or another enough of a chance to be dramatic or suspenseful. Maybe we can pin that down to the way a young girl conceptualizes and records the events around her, but even so: when the Dad wagers his soul to a genie, there is about three paragraphs of tension before the problem is resolved. The events are so exciting if I present them to you in list form: an encounter with a fleet of ghost ships, a run-in with a magical creature zoo, buying the services of a guardian angel. But these conflicts, which have serious potential, are waved away time and again.
Which brings me to the ending. No spoilers, but I had a hard time connecting to it for the same reason--the twist happens so fast, is waved away so quickly, that it doesn't give us the emotional impact it so easily could have.
3.5/5
But the book was fun. I guess I'd liken it to a middle-grade version of The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac. Once I learned to ignore the contradictory stuff, I was still hesitant to go along with some of the story. So many things happen so quickly, without ever giving one event or another enough of a chance to be dramatic or suspenseful. Maybe we can pin that down to the way a young girl conceptualizes and records the events around her, but even so: when the Dad wagers his soul to a genie, there is about three paragraphs of tension before the problem is resolved. The events are so exciting if I present them to you in list form: an encounter with a fleet of ghost ships, a run-in with a magical creature zoo, buying the services of a guardian angel. But these conflicts, which have serious potential, are waved away time and again.
Which brings me to the ending. No spoilers, but I had a hard time connecting to it for the same reason--the twist happens so fast, is waved away so quickly, that it doesn't give us the emotional impact it so easily could have.
3.5/5
A story of adventure set in an alternative version of America where most people live on the east coast because everything west of St. Louis is filled with magic and things that go bump in the night. While this world is filled with wonder (mermaids, genies, faeries, angels) it is also problematic. Since there is magic there is no medicine. But, was it always like this? When sickness drives Gracie and her family from their home to seek a cure they are spurned on by the hope that another version of reality (one with a cure) exists.
Do you ever finish a book and just hold it because you loved it so much? I did with this one. One of my favorite Young Readers from the past year. This book will move you.
Do you ever finish a book and just hold it because you loved it so much? I did with this one. One of my favorite Young Readers from the past year. This book will move you.
Wow. Holy smokes. This one came in to the library the other day and I picked it up. COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! This story had me in a trance. In a magical world, very much like our own, a family faces a crisis: a death cloud has come to claim the life of the little brother. The family decides to run to the edge of the world, trying to out pace the cloud. This story is about their adventures. I absolutely adored it. Highly recommended!!!
Well, this had an interesting premise/universe. What happens to civilization in a world that has real supernatural beings (ghosts, sasquatches, mermaids, dragons, etc)? Oh, and the world is flat. Travelling across the US is difficult. Sailing the oceans is moreso. At one point there was an Industrial Revolution but ghosts put an end to that so that manufacturing occurs in isolated pockets around the world. There are still devices that are the same in our world (cars, Winnebagos, Sega Genesis games), but their prevalence is much reduced. Much of the US is supposedly unsafe due to dragon migrations and sasquatches - yetis kept the transcontinental railroad from being completed. All of which is neat and intriguing, but that's really all. All this wonderful potential has little effect on the protagonist's family's journey to the Edge of the World where they hope to find the Extraordinary World (our world) and escape the Dark Cloud which is following them - Dark Clouds come for someone who is about to die. My fault with this story is that with all this potential nothing much happens. It's almost boring and much of that may be due to the 1st person narration and diary format.
http://librarianosnark.blogspot.com/2015/12/middle-grade-reviews-part-three.html
There were parts of this book that I absolutely loved--mostly because I am always intrigued with monstrous beasts inhabiting a world that looks mostly like ours. However, the mechanics of the world were confusing, especially the Cloud, who comes for those who are ready to die. It's an interesting concept exploring an important part of the life cycle, but for me, the actual mechanics didn't work in the end.
My brain cannot comprehend the perfection that is this book.