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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
I was obsessed with this book for such a long time! I remember I picked it up because 1. Meg Cabot rocks and 2. the cover was cool (which usually gets me not gonna lie) It was such a cool idea to have people reincarnate or whatever from characters from the King Arthur stories. I was really hoping for a sequel to this and was not the happiest camper when I found out she made the sequel into manga... not my thing and not as fulfilling as reading the story in book form.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
mysterious
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
The Disney movie: Mordred has a magic staff. Here’s an awful CGI montage
The book: MORDRED’S GOT A GLOCK
The book: MORDRED’S GOT A GLOCK
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Avalon High by Meg Cabot, as I've mentioned before, is a teen/tween modern Aurhurian legend romance retelling. Honestly, I find that so on-brand because the legends became so big due to the romance.
Elaine Harrison's parents are both professors of medieval history and literature so she basically eat, sleeps, and breaths medieval facts. Also, professors have to take a sabbatical every 7 years to publish books, and Elie's family moves to Maryland (just outside DC) for her junior year of high school... which she thinks is better than the last sabbatical that took her to Germany.
Elaine is tall, smart, and on the track team and she has accepted and loves these aspects about herself... until she almost collides into Avalon High's most popular, most handsome, most athletic, football captain, quarterback, senior class president, valedictorian, and of course the nicest guy in the world A. William Wagner... and she will refer to him as such at least 14 times a chapter (it's an exaggeration, but it didn't feel like it).
Then nothing but weird coincidences and a British literature teacher (British literature teacher in from England AND British literature) and a spark between Will and Elaine that neither can explain... Especially since Will is already dating the most beautiful girl and captain of the cheer team Jennifer! While Elaine's track team friends really want her to date Lance, Will's best friend.
Anyway, I love it. I own the hardcover, but I listened to the audiobook on Libby for this time around. Now I need to get the 3 graphic novels Meg Cabot has published after this book to finish the story.
Elaine Harrison's parents are both professors of medieval history and literature so she basically eat, sleeps, and breaths medieval facts. Also, professors have to take a sabbatical every 7 years to publish books, and Elie's family moves to Maryland (just outside DC) for her junior year of high school... which she thinks is better than the last sabbatical that took her to Germany.
Elaine is tall, smart, and on the track team and she has accepted and loves these aspects about herself... until she almost collides into Avalon High's most popular, most handsome, most athletic, football captain, quarterback, senior class president, valedictorian, and of course the nicest guy in the world A. William Wagner... and she will refer to him as such at least 14 times a chapter (it's an exaggeration, but it didn't feel like it).
Then nothing but weird coincidences and a British literature teacher (British literature teacher in from England AND British literature) and a spark between Will and Elaine that neither can explain... Especially since Will is already dating the most beautiful girl and captain of the cheer team Jennifer! While Elaine's track team friends really want her to date Lance, Will's best friend.
Anyway, I love it. I own the hardcover, but I listened to the audiobook on Libby for this time around. Now I need to get the 3 graphic novels Meg Cabot has published after this book to finish the story.
After my first foray into Meg Cabot's books ('How to Be Popular'), I was eager to read another one of her novels. Even though 'Avalon High' didn't quite live up to my high expectations, it certainly did a nice job of maintaining intrigue, and had me bent on keeping the pages turning, especially after the first third of the book. This is not to say that the first third was not good, but I just couldn't get quite as into it as I wanted to, especially after having been so excited about reading another novel by Cabot. Once I started in after the first hundred pages, the story started to fly by.
The plot revolves around Ellie Harrison, a high school girl who has moved to Annapolis, Maryland with her parents, who just so happen to be Arthurian scholars. Coincidences start to abound, from the name of Ellie's new school being Avalon High, to the names of the people in the popular crowd that she finds herself quickly becoming a part of - Jennifer, Lance, and Marco especially, since their names seem to resemble those of Guenevere, Lancelot, and Mordred, all of Arthurian lore. The guy she finds herself liking - A. Will Wagner - also seems to have similarities with King Arthur, including the way his father is remarried to his former best friend's wife, and allegedly sent that best friend to his death in a roundabout way.
Soon enough, Ellie finds that people think she is involved in what she can only consider an absurd fantasy about how King Arthur might someday return, reincarnated as someone else. Could any of this be true? Or is Ellie just over-thinking what is going on around her as she attempts to find a way to get Will to like her? Uncertainty and curiosity keep readers on the edges of their seats, wondering if there is some explanation apart from extreme coincidence for all the goings-on around the multitude of seemingly Arthurian characters.
It would have also been nice if Cabot had found a way to wrap up Ellie's relationships with her friends from the track team. It seemed that once the storyline with Will truly came front and center, these other friends fell into the background and were not really resurrected (pun intended!) as much as they could have been to give proper closure to Ellie's relationships with them.
Overall, I recommend Meg Cabot as an author who knows how to engage her readers and stimulate their thought processes. I was truly curious how the story would wrap up and what explanations would be given for the coincidental occurrences that were ever-present throughout the story. I guess when coincidences abound, sometimes that means that they may not be coincidences at all!
Beth Rodgers, Author of 'Freshman Fourteen,' A Young Adult Novel
The plot revolves around Ellie Harrison, a high school girl who has moved to Annapolis, Maryland with her parents, who just so happen to be Arthurian scholars. Coincidences start to abound, from the name of Ellie's new school being Avalon High, to the names of the people in the popular crowd that she finds herself quickly becoming a part of - Jennifer, Lance, and Marco especially, since their names seem to resemble those of Guenevere, Lancelot, and Mordred, all of Arthurian lore. The guy she finds herself liking - A. Will Wagner - also seems to have similarities with King Arthur, including the way his father is remarried to his former best friend's wife, and allegedly sent that best friend to his death in a roundabout way.
Soon enough, Ellie finds that people think she is involved in what she can only consider an absurd fantasy about how King Arthur might someday return, reincarnated as someone else. Could any of this be true? Or is Ellie just over-thinking what is going on around her as she attempts to find a way to get Will to like her? Uncertainty and curiosity keep readers on the edges of their seats, wondering if there is some explanation apart from extreme coincidence for all the goings-on around the multitude of seemingly Arthurian characters.
It would have also been nice if Cabot had found a way to wrap up Ellie's relationships with her friends from the track team. It seemed that once the storyline with Will truly came front and center, these other friends fell into the background and were not really resurrected (pun intended!) as much as they could have been to give proper closure to Ellie's relationships with them.
Overall, I recommend Meg Cabot as an author who knows how to engage her readers and stimulate their thought processes. I was truly curious how the story would wrap up and what explanations would be given for the coincidental occurrences that were ever-present throughout the story. I guess when coincidences abound, sometimes that means that they may not be coincidences at all!
Beth Rodgers, Author of 'Freshman Fourteen,' A Young Adult Novel
A long time ago I saw a Disney Channel Original movie based on this book. I didn't like the movie much. This book was definitely better than the movie but, it is not my favorite Meg Cabot young adult book.
This book was quite interesting. The reason I picked it up in the first place is because I had seen a very entertaining movie version of the book (it was a Disney Channel Original Movie, so take that as you will). Because I am generally of the opinion that "the book is always better", I decided to give it a try. This is not a difficult read, there is nothing particularly complex happening here, but it is fun, quick, and interesting. I wasn't expecting the big twist to go the way that it did (which is one way that the book differs from the movie), but I did feel that the historical or mythological take on the age0old Arthur story (depending on your personal opinion of Arthurian legend) was somewhat compelling and definitely more thought out in the book form of this story. It's closer to a 2.5 than a 3 in my opinion, but still worth a quick read if you're into that sort of thing.