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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
I wanted to like this book. I really did. Come on, what a GREAT title! What a lovely cover! What a fun premise (kids inherit their long lost relatives chocolate shop only to discover that it's magical!)! But... I couldn't even finish it. The pacing is horrible. I felt like I was on a runaway pony with no saddle and also the pony was falling apart a bit. I can't even put my finger exactly on what was so awful about it (maybe because everything was so convenient? here's an example: they're supposed to be searching for a candy mold made of gold that probably is at the bottom of a river inside a submerged train car that wrecked ages and ages ago. Since the wreck, people have been searching for this mold, but no one has been able to find it. The children (who have received no training, but are apparently "dripping with magic") are sent underwater (after getting one day of scuba lessons), enter the submerged train car (after breaking out the glass window which had had a hole already but it was too small to enter through -- haven't people already searched inside this vehicle? Why is there no entry yet?), hold hands and bingo-bango, the mold reveals itself from the depths. Case solved! But then the evil, immortal uncle shows up and steals the mold and kidnaps the brother. And that was around page 60 of an approximately 300 page book.) but I can't even be bothered to finish the book and that's rare for me.
This book was painful to read. It is better as a book for kids to read to themselves...but I chose this as a read aloud. The writing was so awkward and was in stark contrast to the high quality writing of the Farwalker's series by Joni Sensel which we had just finished prior to reading this book...I had to force myself to finish reading this aloud to my children, it was so bad.
I doubt many adults would enjoy this writing style.
I doubt many adults would enjoy this writing style.
The vain and finicky cat here reminded me of the cat in the Oz storybooks. Interesting world-building. I really thought the book would have ended differently, but it had a surprisingly happy ending.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-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:
Yes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Loved the reader of this audio book... she really made the story for me!
Firstly, the other reviews were NOT joking about there being some very adult themes in here. Nazis, suicide bombers (mentioned), lots of murder, torture (a couple characters mentioned about their past), terrorism, a vision of a funeral for a newborn baby... All in a kids' book about magic chocolate, lol.
It was a very entertaining story overall. I enjoyed and had a good time reading it. It had all the points I look for in a book I rate well: good character development, interesting plot, silly humor, all that jazz. It was a wild ride, for sure.
The few things I didn't like were:
- The added context in parentheses. Adding context is good and important, but there are more seamless ways of doing it. It sort of broke the immersion for me to read it this way.
- "The man called J." We didn't need this nearly every time he appeared in the book. Which is a lot, by the way.
- We didn't see enough of the kids making their own way. 90% of it was them following the adults and doing what they're told. Where's the good old them getting separated and having to figure things out by themselves? Oz is said to be the genius over and over, but we never actually see that come up in the form of him having to use it, aside from one kind of scene. They are all very shallow in that regard.
It was a very entertaining story overall. I enjoyed and had a good time reading it. It had all the points I look for in a book I rate well: good character development, interesting plot, silly humor, all that jazz. It was a wild ride, for sure.
The few things I didn't like were:
- The added context in parentheses. Adding context is good and important, but there are more seamless ways of doing it. It sort of broke the immersion for me to read it this way.
- "The man called J." We didn't need this nearly every time he appeared in the book. Which is a lot, by the way.
- We didn't see enough of the kids making their own way. 90% of it was them following the adults and doing what they're told. Where's the good old them getting separated and having to figure things out by themselves? Oz is said to be the genius over and over, but we never actually see that come up in the form of him having to use it, aside from one kind of scene. They are all very shallow in that regard.
This was a fun book. It's slightly more younger middle grade, but still fun for everyone. I liked the characters, especially the twins. I also love the idea of magic chocolate. The adventures that they went on were fun. I enjoyed this one.
not impressed. Predictable, dry, slow-moving. The sentences did not flow well for a read-aloud book and I couldn't wait for it to be done. Oh, and Lily had more ASD traits than dyslexic traits.