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353 reviews for:
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King
Laura Geringer, William Joyce
3.98 AVERAGE
353 reviews for:
Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King
Laura Geringer, William Joyce
3.98 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Chapter book detailed follow up to the Man in the Moon Kids book.
Positively delightful youth chapterbook filled with wonder, danger and imagination. Before Santa was Santa, he was a Russian theif, good with sword, who learned to love magic and children.
Beautiful illustations really add to the delight in the book.
Positively delightful youth chapterbook filled with wonder, danger and imagination. Before Santa was Santa, he was a Russian theif, good with sword, who learned to love magic and children.
Beautiful illustations really add to the delight in the book.
Too many meaningless exclamation points, and not a very interesting story. Some cool ideas, but not well-executed.
The first installment of William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood series is absolutely delightful. Joyce, long a master of the picture book form, has finally turned his talent to early reader novels, with excellent result. The basic idea - a series of stories revolving around the mythological figures of childhood, and their battle against nightmares, is simple, clever and will resonate with many, many children.
In reading this first book (I bought the first four), I was struck how much it reminded me of L. Frank Baum's Oz stories, which were great favorites of my own childhood. The language of Nicholas St. North is a little simpler - befitting the modern age - and the story is a little shorter, but there are some commonalities: a brave female child protagonist; benevolent magic-casters; strange fantasy creatures; and a quest that emphasizes friendship over the occasional bursts of terror and even violence. Crucially, Joyce and his co-author (on this volume only) have chosen to avoid either a full-on fairy tale motif or a sub-Tolkien high fantasy homage, both of which are overly popular today. I would not be at all surprised if the Oz books, which were always lighter and more distinctly American than many trendy series since, were in the back of Joyce's mind.
My only criticisms relate, perhaps over-sensitively, to marketing issues. I'm not an enormous fan of the serialized format that seems to have taken over children's fiction, which instead of gently implying future adventures, screams, "Buy the next one!" I respect that Joyce wants to tell a longer story, but I do like a more distinct ending to each installment. I'm also a little disappointed just by the economic situation in which these books are published. They are lovely little volumes - the covers are beautiful, and Joyce's gentle interior pencil drawings balance the text nicely - but I can't help thinking that, had these been released in the glory publishing days of the '80s or '90s, they would have color plates (or a color frontispiece, at least). The covers are so vivid it just seems a shame there is none of Joyce's trademark color work elsewhere in the books. That's a secondary issue, though - what's here is very nice indeed.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series, which has a delightfully B-movie title. I believe William Joyce has projected six novels in the series, so there's only two to be released yet. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out.
In reading this first book (I bought the first four), I was struck how much it reminded me of L. Frank Baum's Oz stories, which were great favorites of my own childhood. The language of Nicholas St. North is a little simpler - befitting the modern age - and the story is a little shorter, but there are some commonalities: a brave female child protagonist; benevolent magic-casters; strange fantasy creatures; and a quest that emphasizes friendship over the occasional bursts of terror and even violence. Crucially, Joyce and his co-author (on this volume only) have chosen to avoid either a full-on fairy tale motif or a sub-Tolkien high fantasy homage, both of which are overly popular today. I would not be at all surprised if the Oz books, which were always lighter and more distinctly American than many trendy series since, were in the back of Joyce's mind.
My only criticisms relate, perhaps over-sensitively, to marketing issues. I'm not an enormous fan of the serialized format that seems to have taken over children's fiction, which instead of gently implying future adventures, screams, "Buy the next one!" I respect that Joyce wants to tell a longer story, but I do like a more distinct ending to each installment. I'm also a little disappointed just by the economic situation in which these books are published. They are lovely little volumes - the covers are beautiful, and Joyce's gentle interior pencil drawings balance the text nicely - but I can't help thinking that, had these been released in the glory publishing days of the '80s or '90s, they would have color plates (or a color frontispiece, at least). The covers are so vivid it just seems a shame there is none of Joyce's trademark color work elsewhere in the books. That's a secondary issue, though - what's here is very nice indeed.
I am looking forward to the next book in the series, which has a delightfully B-movie title. I believe William Joyce has projected six novels in the series, so there's only two to be released yet. I'll certainly be keeping an eye out.
Read it because of the movie, Rise of the Guardians, and enjoyed this a lot. Not sure how it fits with the movie plot themes as North is not "santa" yet.
An absolutely delightful book, it would be great to read to younger children.
Beautiful tale. And the illustrations give such a wonderful depth to the tale with small details that cannot be described.
It's been a long time since I've read such a wonderful middle-grade novel. I've found that I love fairy-tale re-tellings, and this is truly a magical one. I discovered this author and these novels while browsing my local bookstore- I had no idea these stories were connected to one of my current favorite animated movies, Rise of the Guardians. This, perhaps, made me biased towards liking it, I'll admit, but I do think that this novel is solid enough to stand on its own. It feels like an Oz novel by L. Frank Baum (Rinkitink in Oz, etc.) but set in our world, with just enough lyrical wordplay and fantastical elements to make you envision a rosy, nostalgic, magical past that might have occurred on Earth. This book, of course, is the origin story of North, the equivalent of Santa Claus. Joyce weaves in Claus lore deftly and seamlessly- North is a Russian Cossack, used to the cold. He rides on reindeer and clouds to find the lost city of Santoff Claussen, and learns magic from the last Atlantean. There are also gorgeous illustrations of characters and settings that add another layer of whimsy to the story. I'd highly recommend this author and series if you enjoy Baum's works, Grimm's Fairy Tales, or any other modern retelling of a classic story.
adventurous
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated