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elizajbrown 's review for:
The Emerald Atlas
by John Stephens
I had heard a lot of buzz about this book so I was actually quite disappointed. While the story did keep me reading to the end of the book, there were too many times where I considered not finishing, which is never a good thing for a book. I found the use of switching point-of-views between the three children at times a bit sloppy and distracting. The characters were frustratingly flat and one-sided and the main characters especially had too much step-by-step explanation for their feelings, making them feel unnatural, especially in the many scenes where the siblings swapped from anger to forgiveness far too quickly to feel believable. There was too much overall explanation and hit-you-over-the-head exposition, including way too many scenes where the time-traveling characters must recap the entire plot to other characters throughout the book.
Humorous relief to a dark, complicated story came from the comic dwarf characters, especially Hamish. I enjoyed the plot, which was paced well considering the time-travel aspects. The Books of Beginning concept is an interesting one and has good trilogy potential, though I don't intend on reading future books.
Humorous relief to a dark, complicated story came from the comic dwarf characters, especially Hamish. I enjoyed the plot, which was paced well considering the time-travel aspects. The Books of Beginning concept is an interesting one and has good trilogy potential, though I don't intend on reading future books.