Reviews

Mrs. Perivale and the Blue Fire Crystal by Dash Hoffman

zarakhan55's review

4.0

Cute story

Great read for all the family really enjoyed it and look forward too seeing if they can save the dragon kingdom

a_little_off_center's review

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I wanted to like this more than I did. The idea of an older heroine, instead of the young is not common, and I felt like this wasn’t what it could have been. The characters are pretty one dimensional, there isn’t a lot of growth. The story was also very this problem, oh look suddenly the solution, poof, problem solved. It didn’t feel like the characters had to work for anything but were just handed solutions. The writing also felt rough, like it could have used a few more drafts. All that being said, for a quick casual read I would possibly recommend it if someone was looking for something that didn’t need a lot of effort. I will most likely read the second because I have already got the ebook, and I have a bit of hope that it will be a bit better than the first. 

sunup7670's review

5.0

My favorite heroine!

Love, love, love the characters in this tale! Cannot get enough of Mrs. Privale and her companions! I want to be her when I grow up!

bgstrong's review

3.0

Oops! Almost forgot to write a review.

This book is based off of a post from Tumblr - and it shows - both in good and bad ways.

It’s good because it is definitely a story that we don’t get very often. It’s a high fantasy-esque adventure tale where instead of the protagonist being a hobbit or an elf, or a school age kid etc. it’s a little old lady accompanied by her butler and her many cats. It was a charming story.

However, that being said - it read like an early draft. It felt like a NaNoWriMo novel where you throw everything at the page to hit a word count, only instead of editing in December this one went straight to print.

It just felt like a lot of “what if this happened and then this and oh what if we then added a dragon? Oh oh oh and maybe a genie too!” They took all the fantasy elements and tossed them into the pot.

Also - the ending was very much a deus ex machina- okay I guess a deus ex knitting needle - which I was sorta grumpy about.

But. This book made some tumblr folks dreams come true and I guess that’s cool.

thisiszoerose's review against another edition

1.0

This was awful. I was really hoping to like it because the premise was so fun, but finishing it was a chore. Absolutely no tension or suspense (or anything, really) in the story except very easily surmountable, low-stakes "challenges" overcome by a cast of thoroughly one-dimensional characters, all wrapped in ham-fisted "you have value even if you're old/different!" themes.

lryickinard's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.0

I listened to the audiobook... which might have ruined it for me. The reader had two sentence inflections, no variation. I'll have to try again with a paper book.

amac_reads's review against another edition

1.0

I felt like this work was written quickly, with little-to-no thought given to character development or plot. Characters and their dialogue felt flat to me. The world and its magic were interesting but weren't explored much. And though I'm not elderly so I can't 100% say, I'm pretty sure the way this author wrote the elderly woman is not an accurate representation - she felt more like a tween shoved into an elderly body with too many stereotypes attached (wasn't the point of this work to avoid those?). As well as the fact that she relied on her male butler - again, wasn't the author saying the book was about how elderly woman can be independent?
I was not impressed with this work and do not recommend reading it.

judithdon's review

adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

2.75

duskangelreads's review

adventurous emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

lindakat's review

2.0

I wanted to like this book so much. I was in want of something really sweet and funny. Life had been so stressful between work and uni I *needed* a fun loving middle grade or YA.
What sounded brilliant in theory sucked in real life.
Why it annoyed me:
- Mrs. Alice Perivale may as well have been 12 for the way she behaved.
- The freaking magic cat thing that lead the party drove me mad with the way he spoke - third person if he was overwhelmed plus the inability to form a grammatically correct sentence for reasons that wouldn't hole true in real life.
- The cats had unique personalities true but they were so one-dimensional.
-The plot 'twist' was not that.
-The ending, (during the mirror trial) was my favourite part of the book but then it was rushed and easily solved, also a freaking paragraph or a page break would have been so helpful in regards to breaking up point of views.
Will not be getting the sequel.