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rjdenney's review
5.0
Re-read in 2019:
Ghosts in mirrors, evil warlocks, demonic forces, and a summer vacation gone wintry!
This is still such a perfect winter read and it has some of the spookiest scenes I've ever read.
Re-read in 2011:
Absolutely adored this read! One of my favorites from John Bellairs.
Ghosts in mirrors, evil warlocks, demonic forces, and a summer vacation gone wintry!
This is still such a perfect winter read and it has some of the spookiest scenes I've ever read.
Re-read in 2011:
Absolutely adored this read! One of my favorites from John Bellairs.
rjdenney's review against another edition
5.0
***Re-Read December 2020
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***Re-Read February 2019
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***Re-Read February 2019
sher221bb's review against another edition
5.0
Another wunderful story, I loved how the friendship between ms. Zimmermann Is growing up and the adventures that they had... Thank you....
njtigers's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
tasharobinson's review against another edition
3.0
Not as strong as the previous "Lewis Barnavelt" books (though like "The Letter, The Witch, And The Ring," this one barely features Lewis and is more about his female best friends) — maybe because it wasn't written by Bellairs, it was completed after his death by another author, and credited to him. So it feels slightly repetitive, as though it's drawing on the past books for character detail. Still, spooky, creative, and a colorful read.
tbeauty00's review against another edition
3.0
Lexi and I like this series. We listen to them in the car on the way to and from school. My favorite insult? Weird Beard.
ashleylm's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, brisk read. I'd recently started 'curating' (sigh) my Want to Read list, which used to be the random books I came across so I wouldn't forget them ... but wouldn't I rather read more from my favourite authors? Hence this one. It turns out I hadn't read it because he'd died before completing it (and others), according to the publisher, but the able hand that finished it (or revised it or edited it) was undetectable to me. It very much felt like a Bellairs book.
(Heck, I can start an Anne Rice series and it will inevitably feel like she died and someone different took over halfway through the first book, so this is impressive).
It's creepy without being gory, scary (the bit after the climax where they had to "believe" was terrifying, and I hope their target market never tries this usually fatal belief). I didn't mind that Lewis and Jonathan were largely absent, since Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita are not minor characters in the milieu, they're fully capable of maintaing this kind of story.
Toss in some time travel (I'm a sucker for that) and all-in-all, a very fine read.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
(Heck, I can start an Anne Rice series and it will inevitably feel like she died and someone different took over halfway through the first book, so this is impressive).
It's creepy without being gory, scary (the bit after the climax where they had to "believe" was terrifying, and I hope their target market never tries this usually fatal belief). I didn't mind that Lewis and Jonathan were largely absent, since Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita are not minor characters in the milieu, they're fully capable of maintaing this kind of story.
Toss in some time travel (I'm a sucker for that) and all-in-all, a very fine read.
(Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
ecstaticlistening's review against another edition
2.0
I'll admit that I mostly read this b/c of the Gorey cover.
calistareads's review against another edition
4.0
I love these John Bellairs books. I've read most of the ones he wrote by now. I only have a few left to go before Brad Strickland completely takes over the series.
This is the 2nd book in a row where Lewis and his uncle are not in the story. They are both off in Europe having adventures while Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita are trying to find a way to get Mrs. Zimmerman's magic back. While driving down the highway in their car, they go through a tunnel in the mountains of PA and all the sudden the road is gone and they are stranded in some bushes. They have gone back in the past. Opps.
There is a family and the grandfather is a witch and the granddaughter is a witch and she is the one who trained Mrs. Zimmerman; how're them apples. There is an evil socerer in the area who is trying to destroy the family and Rose Rita must face it all.
I actually felt like this story was scary, especially for kids and there were some dark moments in it. I normally don't like time travel at all, but I felt like John pulled it off. John makes writing look so easy. His characters are very good and his writing is so smooth and he sets a great tone. These books are true gems and I'm glad I am reading them all.
I also enjoyed seeing the story told from Mrs. Zimmerman & Rose Rita's point of view again. They make a great pair and I wouldn't mind having more of them.
This book will make you think twice before using a mirror to do magic.
This is the 2nd book in a row where Lewis and his uncle are not in the story. They are both off in Europe having adventures while Mrs. Zimmerman and Rose Rita are trying to find a way to get Mrs. Zimmerman's magic back. While driving down the highway in their car, they go through a tunnel in the mountains of PA and all the sudden the road is gone and they are stranded in some bushes. They have gone back in the past. Opps.
There is a family and the grandfather is a witch and the granddaughter is a witch and she is the one who trained Mrs. Zimmerman; how're them apples. There is an evil socerer in the area who is trying to destroy the family and Rose Rita must face it all.
I actually felt like this story was scary, especially for kids and there were some dark moments in it. I normally don't like time travel at all, but I felt like John pulled it off. John makes writing look so easy. His characters are very good and his writing is so smooth and he sets a great tone. These books are true gems and I'm glad I am reading them all.
I also enjoyed seeing the story told from Mrs. Zimmerman & Rose Rita's point of view again. They make a great pair and I wouldn't mind having more of them.
This book will make you think twice before using a mirror to do magic.
manwithanagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
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? No
4.0
This was the first of two manuscripts finished by Brad Strickland after the death of John Bellairs in 1991. I haven't read a full biography, I don't know if there even is one, but it seems to me from Bellairs' focus on Johnny Dixon through the '80s tells me that these manuscripts were likely experiments and wouldn't have seen publication. The only full posthumous work he left was 'The Mansion in the Mist', a rare Anthony Monday book, and one of his all-time best works.
Rose Rita and Lewis had reached a point in their relationship where certain realities were gonna have to be addressed if their friendship was going to continue. Romantic feelings, even if Rose Rita and Lewis were going to stay platonic, were not Bellairs' territory. He left them behind for good reason.
That said, this is a Rose Rita book and that means its great. Stuck in New Zebedee with a broken ankle while Lewis and Jonathan are in Europe, she makes plans with Mrs. Zimmerman to go on a road trip as soon as she can travel. Mrs. Zimmerman has been feeling the loss of her magic and needs a distraction. Of course, she has a supernatural ulterior motive: a message from her long-passed teacher in a magic mirror tells her that if she rights a great wrong she will find her powers.
Bessy, Mrs. Zimmerman's car, transports the two to the 1830's and seemingly strands them there. What is the wrong they need to correct, and is there a more sinister motive to their being lured into the past?
This was fun, but adult me couldn't get over the lack of period details. The farm family don't speak in 19th century fashion and there are a lot of things like individual bedrooms for the whole extended family that didn't seem right. Bellairs often inserted obscure bits of 1950s nostalgia into his books in the way of radio programs and defunct candy bars as way to introduce modern readers to a past way of life, and Strickland didn't come up with an 1830s equivalent.
The other nagging detail is I've always felt, even when I read these as they came out in the early '90s, is that 'Vengeance of the Witch-Finder' should really come first. They happen simultaneously, sort of, but the pace would really work better if their order was switched. As they're written now, reading them that way spoils 'Ghost in the Mirror', but Strickland could have changed that.
Lewis & Rose Rita
Next: 'The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder'
Previous: 'The Letter, the Witch and the Ring'
Rose Rita and Lewis had reached a point in their relationship where certain realities were gonna have to be addressed if their friendship was going to continue. Romantic feelings, even if Rose Rita and Lewis were going to stay platonic, were not Bellairs' territory. He left them behind for good reason.
That said, this is a Rose Rita book and that means its great. Stuck in New Zebedee with a broken ankle while Lewis and Jonathan are in Europe, she makes plans with Mrs. Zimmerman to go on a road trip as soon as she can travel. Mrs. Zimmerman has been feeling the loss of her magic and needs a distraction. Of course, she has a supernatural ulterior motive: a message from her long-passed teacher in a magic mirror tells her that if she rights a great wrong she will find her powers.
Bessy, Mrs. Zimmerman's car, transports the two to the 1830's and seemingly strands them there. What is the wrong they need to correct, and is there a more sinister motive to their being lured into the past?
This was fun, but adult me couldn't get over the lack of period details. The farm family don't speak in 19th century fashion and there are a lot of things like individual bedrooms for the whole extended family that didn't seem right. Bellairs often inserted obscure bits of 1950s nostalgia into his books in the way of radio programs and defunct candy bars as way to introduce modern readers to a past way of life, and Strickland didn't come up with an 1830s equivalent.
The other nagging detail is I've always felt, even when I read these as they came out in the early '90s, is that 'Vengeance of the Witch-Finder' should really come first. They happen simultaneously, sort of, but the pace would really work better if their order was switched. As they're written now, reading them that way spoils 'Ghost in the Mirror', but Strickland could have changed that.
Lewis & Rose Rita
Next: 'The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder'
Previous: 'The Letter, the Witch and the Ring'