Reviews

Pure Dead Wicked by Debi Gliori

cpmorr01's review against another edition

3.0

I read this in Middle School. I think I still have it at home in storage! I remember there was something about French Fries being crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside, which is the perfect french fry. But that might not be this series...

munyapenny's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

morchels's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was such a fun book. Though dark at times (for a children's novel) I found myself chuckling along as I read.  A cross between Addams Family and Lemony Snicket, it was a great read.  

stefhyena's review

2.0

This one didn't really float my boat. Although at times I thought there was real wit, the delivery was lacking. It seemed like one of the problems was the lack of purpose to the book. Who was it really pitched at? Adults? Then it needed more content and complexity (or just to be a lot funnier). Kids? Then the jokes needed to be pitched better.

All the characters seemed to be stereotypes which even in a "romp" is unsatisfying and even though sort of unexpected things happened, they happened in a predictably zany way so that nothing really surprised us. There were no boundaries in this two-dimensional playworld so that boundaries could not really be challenged so it was just "oh look this suddenly happened" without any real impact.

I was a bit shocked how casually deaths were scattered throughout a book and how characters were contradictory between at times seeming compassionate and ethical to an extreme (more development of this theme would have interested me whether it was done straight-forwardly or critically) and then the same characters would just accept deaths really casually with no real emotion. It was hard to care for anyone in the story anyway- the Strega-Borgia family seem to do nothing (no sort of work) for a living and have servants to even do housework for them so they literally don't have to do a thing.

Apart from the pointlessness of the plot, the selfish irrelevancy of the characters and the sexism inherent in the stereotypes this was a harmless enough book. In my opinion Colin Thompson does this sort of stuff better (only because he is funnier) but some people might like the silliness of it I suppose.

miaelli's review

4.0

This book was hilarious and actually had me laughing out loud. The plot was gripping the whole way through and there were so many twists and turns in the book. It definitely isn't a sequel to Pure Dead Magic, so you don't have to read it before reading this book.

I would recommend it to people of any age, but is aimed at younger people (7-9 year olds). However anyone can enjoy it, even if it is just a simple read during a slump.

annastarlight's review

3.0

Original review in 2010:
Loved it.

Update 2020:
Not quite as good as the first one. It takes a while to get going, but came together in a pleasing way.