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latad_books 's review for:
Goblin Secrets
by William Alexander
I wanted to love this, but had to settle for liking it. There are so many great elements in this book:
-Rownie, the young hero who has to find his lost brother,
-the clockwork creations,
-the prohibition against theatre and acting,
-the somewhat horrifying witch who keeps a group of young vulnerable kids with her to do things for her, controls all the birds, and who clearly owes a debt to Baba Yaga, and to Dickens' Fagin,
-the horrifying ways coal is created,
-the goblins and flouting of the rules, and their amusing turns of phrase,
-the masks that may be able to convey an identity to the wearer, and
-the prophecy.
And yet. I could not understand the following:
-what’s with all the clockwork creations? What’s the in-world history for their prevalence?
-was there supposed to be something more, plot-wise, from the revelation of where coal comes from?
-what's up with the river and why was there a prophecy about it?
I feel a bit like there were all these great ideas that the author brought together in a fun tale, but also was left with many questions about the world.
Merged review:
I wanted to love this, but had to settle for liking it. There are so many great elements in this book:
-Rownie, the young hero who has to find his lost brother,
-the clockwork creations,
-the prohibition against theatre and acting,
-the somewhat horrifying witch who keeps a group of young vulnerable kids with her to do things for her, controls all the birds, and who clearly owes a debt to Baba Yaga, and to Dickens' Fagin,
-the horrifying ways coal is created,
-the goblins and flouting of the rules, and their amusing turns of phrase,
-the masks that may be able to convey an identity to the wearer, and
-the prophecy.
And yet. I could not understand the following:
-what’s with all the clockwork creations? What’s the in-world history for their prevalence?
-was there supposed to be something more, plot-wise, from the revelation of where coal comes from?
-what's up with the river and why was there a prophecy about it?
I feel a bit like there were all these great ideas that the author brought together in a fun tale, but also was left with many questions about the world.
-Rownie, the young hero who has to find his lost brother,
-the clockwork creations,
-the prohibition against theatre and acting,
-the somewhat horrifying witch who keeps a group of young vulnerable kids with her to do things for her, controls all the birds, and who clearly owes a debt to Baba Yaga, and to Dickens' Fagin,
-the horrifying ways coal is created,
-the goblins and flouting of the rules, and their amusing turns of phrase,
-the masks that may be able to convey an identity to the wearer, and
-the prophecy.
And yet. I could not understand the following:
-what’s with all the clockwork creations? What’s the in-world history for their prevalence?
-was there supposed to be something more, plot-wise, from the revelation of where coal comes from?
-what's up with the river and why was there a prophecy about it?
I feel a bit like there were all these great ideas that the author brought together in a fun tale, but also was left with many questions about the world.
Merged review:
I wanted to love this, but had to settle for liking it. There are so many great elements in this book:
-Rownie, the young hero who has to find his lost brother,
-the clockwork creations,
-the prohibition against theatre and acting,
-the somewhat horrifying witch who keeps a group of young vulnerable kids with her to do things for her, controls all the birds, and who clearly owes a debt to Baba Yaga, and to Dickens' Fagin,
-the horrifying ways coal is created,
-the goblins and flouting of the rules, and their amusing turns of phrase,
-the masks that may be able to convey an identity to the wearer, and
-the prophecy.
And yet. I could not understand the following:
-what’s with all the clockwork creations? What’s the in-world history for their prevalence?
-was there supposed to be something more, plot-wise, from the revelation of where coal comes from?
-what's up with the river and why was there a prophecy about it?
I feel a bit like there were all these great ideas that the author brought together in a fun tale, but also was left with many questions about the world.