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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I love the creativity that was used to bring characters from Arthurian legend to the modern world, but I felt that everything fell a little bit flat. The characters tended to fall into stereotypes and were mainly a bit two-dimensional. Also, whenever I felt the plot was really about the climb, it would go back to being resolved quickly and would leave me feeling a bit empty.
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ahhh! I'm so confused as to how to accurately rate Avalon High. On the one hand, the plot...the plot was so FOUR stars. But, then again, every single one of the main characters in this book were completely annoying and so THREE stars. And, the whole insta-love thing was LESS than three stars. But I feel like the overall plot made up for that. So, I'm still stuck in the I-don't-even-know stage.
The Good: Again, the plot! It was just so GOOD! However, I'm going to admit that I'm a total Arthurian virgin. I've never read anything about King Arthur's court and every thing that I do know about it (which isn't much) comes from pop culture (and the wonderful Once Upon a Time). So, the plot was so fresh and unique to me. And again, while I did know the gist of it, I didn't really know a lot of the details that popped up about what supposedly happened in King Arthur's Court...the first one, I mean.
Oooh, another thing that I liked about Avalon High was that it was funny. I didn't really expect it to be, but it definitely made me laugh out loud plenty of times. Ellie, despite her flaws, was funny enough that I overlooked her annoyance somewhat and didn't want to stop reading.
Not-So-Good: I'm not a fan of insta-love. I don't buy that whole falling in love after knowing each other for less than a day cliche. So, that did grate a bit. The adultery (is it still considered adultery if said adulterers aren't married? Well, it is to me.) thing was also grating. However, since it was supposed to reflect the real King Arthur legend, I guess I can sort of give it a mild pass in that it was kind of inevitable and I choose to believe that all of the characters had very little free will up until the end.
Something that was mildly off-putting in Avalon High was the writing. While I was starting the book, I kept feeling like I was coming to an abrupt stop at every sentence...and then I realized that I actually was. Meg Cabot seems to have this intense fascination of sentence fragments. I kept wondering why the writing wasn't flowing right when I started and then I realized that there were periods after half-formed thoughts. I don't know whether she cut it out after that or if I just got used to it, but I ceased to notice it after a while. Still, right at the beginning, I was baffled as to the why.
I felt like Avalon High had more good than bad...or rather, I feel like the good outweighs the not so good. Yes, the characters and the insta-love were annoying, but the plot...it was just so GOOD! I just loved the whole premise and the atmosphere towards the last couple of chapters was superb. I was getting creeped out by it, especially when the tension kept mounting. So, overall, I think it's a 3 1/2 star book as opposed to four, but I'm going with 4...for now. Maybe, I'll feel less impressed with the premise once I check out other Arthurian mythilogical books and will mark Avalon High down a bit. But, until then, I'm sticking with four stars for a pretty good read.
The Good: Again, the plot! It was just so GOOD! However, I'm going to admit that I'm a total Arthurian virgin. I've never read anything about King Arthur's court and every thing that I do know about it (which isn't much) comes from pop culture (and the wonderful Once Upon a Time). So, the plot was so fresh and unique to me. And again, while I did know the gist of it, I didn't really know a lot of the details that popped up about what supposedly happened in King Arthur's Court...the first one, I mean.
Oooh, another thing that I liked about Avalon High was that it was funny. I didn't really expect it to be, but it definitely made me laugh out loud plenty of times. Ellie, despite her flaws, was funny enough that I overlooked her annoyance somewhat and didn't want to stop reading.
Not-So-Good: I'm not a fan of insta-love. I don't buy that whole falling in love after knowing each other for less than a day cliche. So, that did grate a bit. The adultery (is it still considered adultery if said adulterers aren't married? Well, it is to me.) thing was also grating. However, since it was supposed to reflect the real King Arthur legend, I guess I can sort of give it a mild pass in that it was kind of inevitable and I choose to believe that all of the characters had very little free will up until the end.
Something that was mildly off-putting in Avalon High was the writing. While I was starting the book, I kept feeling like I was coming to an abrupt stop at every sentence...and then I realized that I actually was. Meg Cabot seems to have this intense fascination of sentence fragments. I kept wondering why the writing wasn't flowing right when I started and then I realized that there were periods after half-formed thoughts. I don't know whether she cut it out after that or if I just got used to it, but I ceased to notice it after a while. Still, right at the beginning, I was baffled as to the why.
I felt like Avalon High had more good than bad...or rather, I feel like the good outweighs the not so good. Yes, the characters and the insta-love were annoying, but the plot...it was just so GOOD! I just loved the whole premise and the atmosphere towards the last couple of chapters was superb. I was getting creeped out by it, especially when the tension kept mounting. So, overall, I think it's a 3 1/2 star book as opposed to four, but I'm going with 4...for now. Maybe, I'll feel less impressed with the premise once I check out other Arthurian mythilogical books and will mark Avalon High down a bit. But, until then, I'm sticking with four stars for a pretty good read.
adventurous
challenging
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meg Cabot has a issue of only writing white people, but smartly writing white people that you easily attaching to.
I read this in high school from the public library. I remember it being really cool.. almost magical. Later, Disney Channel turned it into a movie. That was pretty cool.
I started reading this book because I really liked the movie. The movie absolutely killed this book. The book is 10x better. It follows the story of King Arthur so much more accurately.
