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stephbookshine's review
4.0
*Non-disclaimer! I bought this book with some of my birthday money back in Feb, so can honestly say that my review is unaffected by the free copy I received in exchange for an honest review.*
This novel is technically a children’s book, but like many since C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, makes a great light read for adults too.
This book has all the features you would expect for a children’s action-fantasy book. The burden of saving the world, or in this case her mother, falls solely on the shoulders of ‘ordinary girl’ Alex Lee, but she quickly amasses an array of outcast-type sidekicks to help her through.
Where Gold Dust differs is that the characters are more than the stereotypes they first appear (eg drunk Leprechaun). In fact there were various moments in the plot where I suspected each of the side character ‘goodies’ of ulterior, nefarious motives! This was interesting to me, and on thinking about it I realised that it was because whatever noble motivations the characters were following, they were also clearly motivated by their own individual self-interest. I felt this gave them more depth and realism than the standard self-sacrificing side character.
Also instead of facing death and destruction, Alex was up against the death of imagination. I liked this juxtaposition of the creative thinker versus the corporate robot, and especially liked that instead of discovering that she was the Chosen One with magical powers, Alex discovered that she, and anyone, could manipulate the world ‘magically’ with the power of her thoughts…but she’d have to learn it the hard way: boring lectures, practice, and trial and error!
Which was one of the minor quibbles I had with this story: I found the technical descriptions of how the magic worked as riveting as Alex did! That and I occasionally lost track of the plan our heroes were working to.
Still the plot and characters were exciting enough to keep me turning the pages and I have added the sequel, Phoenix Down to my To Read pile! Review to follow when I do…
“All the world and everything in it, at the most basic particle level, is made by thoughts. Almost everything in the world is what it is, and won’t change, because everyone believes it is that way. But when you get to the particle level, things are different, depending on who is looking at them and doing the believing.” – Gabriel, Gold Dust, by Catherine Weaver
You can find out more about this book and others from the author here: http://catherineweaverauthor.com/books.html
This novel is technically a children’s book, but like many since C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, makes a great light read for adults too.
This book has all the features you would expect for a children’s action-fantasy book. The burden of saving the world, or in this case her mother, falls solely on the shoulders of ‘ordinary girl’ Alex Lee, but she quickly amasses an array of outcast-type sidekicks to help her through.
Where Gold Dust differs is that the characters are more than the stereotypes they first appear (eg drunk Leprechaun). In fact there were various moments in the plot where I suspected each of the side character ‘goodies’ of ulterior, nefarious motives! This was interesting to me, and on thinking about it I realised that it was because whatever noble motivations the characters were following, they were also clearly motivated by their own individual self-interest. I felt this gave them more depth and realism than the standard self-sacrificing side character.
Also instead of facing death and destruction, Alex was up against the death of imagination. I liked this juxtaposition of the creative thinker versus the corporate robot, and especially liked that instead of discovering that she was the Chosen One with magical powers, Alex discovered that she, and anyone, could manipulate the world ‘magically’ with the power of her thoughts…but she’d have to learn it the hard way: boring lectures, practice, and trial and error!
Which was one of the minor quibbles I had with this story: I found the technical descriptions of how the magic worked as riveting as Alex did! That and I occasionally lost track of the plan our heroes were working to.
Still the plot and characters were exciting enough to keep me turning the pages and I have added the sequel, Phoenix Down to my To Read pile! Review to follow when I do…
“All the world and everything in it, at the most basic particle level, is made by thoughts. Almost everything in the world is what it is, and won’t change, because everyone believes it is that way. But when you get to the particle level, things are different, depending on who is looking at them and doing the believing.” – Gabriel, Gold Dust, by Catherine Weaver
You can find out more about this book and others from the author here: http://catherineweaverauthor.com/books.html
stephbookshine's review against another edition
4.0
*Non-disclaimer! I bought this book with some of my birthday money back in Feb, so can honestly say that my review is unaffected by the free copy I received in exchange for an honest review.*
This novel is technically a children’s book, but like many since C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, makes a great light read for adults too.
This book has all the features you would expect for a children’s action-fantasy book. The burden of saving the world, or in this case her mother, falls solely on the shoulders of ‘ordinary girl’ Alex Lee, but she quickly amasses an array of outcast-type sidekicks to help her through.
Where Gold Dust differs is that the characters are more than the stereotypes they first appear (eg drunk Leprechaun). In fact there were various moments in the plot where I suspected each of the side character ‘goodies’ of ulterior, nefarious motives! This was interesting to me, and on thinking about it I realised that it was because whatever noble motivations the characters were following, they were also clearly motivated by their own individual self-interest. I felt this gave them more depth and realism than the standard self-sacrificing side character.
Also instead of facing death and destruction, Alex was up against the death of imagination. I liked this juxtaposition of the creative thinker versus the corporate robot, and especially liked that instead of discovering that she was the Chosen One with magical powers, Alex discovered that she, and anyone, could manipulate the world ‘magically’ with the power of her thoughts…but she’d have to learn it the hard way: boring lectures, practice, and trial and error!
Which was one of the minor quibbles I had with this story: I found the technical descriptions of how the magic worked as riveting as Alex did! That and I occasionally lost track of the plan our heroes were working to.
Still the plot and characters were exciting enough to keep me turning the pages and I have added the sequel, Phoenix Down to my To Read pile! Review to follow when I do…
“All the world and everything in it, at the most basic particle level, is made by thoughts. Almost everything in the world is what it is, and won’t change, because everyone believes it is that way. But when you get to the particle level, things are different, depending on who is looking at them and doing the believing.” – Gabriel, Gold Dust, by Catherine Weaver
You can find out more about this book and others from the author here: http://catherineweaverauthor.com/books.html
This novel is technically a children’s book, but like many since C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, makes a great light read for adults too.
This book has all the features you would expect for a children’s action-fantasy book. The burden of saving the world, or in this case her mother, falls solely on the shoulders of ‘ordinary girl’ Alex Lee, but she quickly amasses an array of outcast-type sidekicks to help her through.
Where Gold Dust differs is that the characters are more than the stereotypes they first appear (eg drunk Leprechaun). In fact there were various moments in the plot where I suspected each of the side character ‘goodies’ of ulterior, nefarious motives! This was interesting to me, and on thinking about it I realised that it was because whatever noble motivations the characters were following, they were also clearly motivated by their own individual self-interest. I felt this gave them more depth and realism than the standard self-sacrificing side character.
Also instead of facing death and destruction, Alex was up against the death of imagination. I liked this juxtaposition of the creative thinker versus the corporate robot, and especially liked that instead of discovering that she was the Chosen One with magical powers, Alex discovered that she, and anyone, could manipulate the world ‘magically’ with the power of her thoughts…but she’d have to learn it the hard way: boring lectures, practice, and trial and error!
Which was one of the minor quibbles I had with this story: I found the technical descriptions of how the magic worked as riveting as Alex did! That and I occasionally lost track of the plan our heroes were working to.
Still the plot and characters were exciting enough to keep me turning the pages and I have added the sequel, Phoenix Down to my To Read pile! Review to follow when I do…
“All the world and everything in it, at the most basic particle level, is made by thoughts. Almost everything in the world is what it is, and won’t change, because everyone believes it is that way. But when you get to the particle level, things are different, depending on who is looking at them and doing the believing.” – Gabriel, Gold Dust, by Catherine Weaver
You can find out more about this book and others from the author here: http://catherineweaverauthor.com/books.html
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