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linda48's review
2.0
Lloyd Alexander was either in a bad mood or a grumpy old man when he wrote this. What a motley group of miserable characters he created. If you take all of the Grimm fairy tales and put in the worst step-parents (although she is a kitchen maid in a family , so rather think Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon in Harry Potter), the meanest miser, the most selfish wizard along with various henchmen, then you have the cast of characters.
It wasn't a bad book, but pretty simplistic. But for some reason, in my version, the last third of the book became a nightmare to read. Misspelled words, mixed up characters, completely wrong words in a sentence (?) - really not sure how they pulled that off, created such a haphazard reading experience, I would never recommend the book. Perhaps other incarnations are proofed better and could allow the reader to continue unimpeded and without trying to guess what word works in the sentence.
It wasn't a bad book, but pretty simplistic. But for some reason, in my version, the last third of the book became a nightmare to read. Misspelled words, mixed up characters, completely wrong words in a sentence (?) - really not sure how they pulled that off, created such a haphazard reading experience, I would never recommend the book. Perhaps other incarnations are proofed better and could allow the reader to continue unimpeded and without trying to guess what word works in the sentence.
jessalynn_librarian's review against another edition
4.0
Classic Lloyd Alexander - an ordinary young woman, full of imagination, finds herself on a magical adventure. This might make a fun family read-aloud - there's a bit of violence and treachery, but nothing too scary, and plenty of humor. It's a nice, trim 138 pages, but I imagine that if it were published today, it would be twice as fat with wider margins and less old-fashioned illustrations. I miss books like this.
rosenectur's review
2.0
This book is a cute YA story by the Author of the Chronicles of Prydain (The Black Cauldron, etc.) It features Mallory a downtrodden girl who works as a maid for a greedy and cruel mistress. They live in a downtrodden town that is about to be razed to be replaced by a coal mine. The Wizard, Abrican, who Mallory found trapped in a felled tree losing his powers, but he owes Mallory a gift for freeing him. Together he and Mallory get tangled up with the greedy Squire whose going to turn the town into a coal mine.
donifaber's review
3.0
I don't know why Mallory would want to help the wizard, as awnry and ungrateful as he is. But it was a fun read with a good message anyway.
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