Take a photo of a barcode or cover
captainbooshi 's review for:
The Grave Robber's Apprentice
by Allan Stratton
I read this since it's a Black-Eyed Susan nominee this year, and overall, I have to say this was an interesting book. The author is obviously inspired by fairy tales, which works both for and against the book overall.
He doesn't really do anything new with the material; the characters are stereotypical, and although twists may pop up out of the blue, the overall plot is pretty obvious right from the beginning, as you might expect. On the other hand, he can be significantly darker than what I think he could otherwise get away with for this age group, and he has a real talent for describing scenes, which works very well in a fairy-tale setting. I was very impressed with how well he can set the mood.
I did think it was cool that the whole book is in a fantasy setting, but nothing supernatural actually happens. All the characters believe it might, but there's always a reasonable explanation for the 'supernatural' things that happen. That was something I was definitely not expecting, and I really liked it.
He doesn't really do anything new with the material; the characters are stereotypical, and although twists may pop up out of the blue, the overall plot is pretty obvious right from the beginning, as you might expect. On the other hand, he can be significantly darker than what I think he could otherwise get away with for this age group, and he has a real talent for describing scenes, which works very well in a fairy-tale setting. I was very impressed with how well he can set the mood.
I did think it was cool that the whole book is in a fantasy setting, but nothing supernatural actually happens. All the characters believe it might, but there's always a reasonable explanation for the 'supernatural' things that happen. That was something I was definitely not expecting, and I really liked it.