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nearly_empty_nesting 's review for:
Come See the Fair
by Gavriel Savit
Reading the book summary, this had all the making of a great middle-grade found magic story.
Eva starts as a mistreated orphan who finds a world of magic as she visits the Chicago World's Fair. The start was promising. When we reached the magical elements, the middle-grade sweet spot disappears.
The magic rules are hard to follow, it's very disjointed and full of creepy edicts from this mysterious magical man to an 11-year-old girl: Come to the fair- in the middle of the night and make sure you are alone. Come live at this magical house, don't worry- we will magically make it so no one will remember you are gone. Memories are taken without consent and fuzzy memory gaps happen more than once.
The obedience of the main characters to these mandates in order to learn magic felt equivalent to a kid willingly taking off in a random car because a stranger is offering them candy. Given the age range of the target readers for this genre, this is not the best device to drive the plot.
Eva starts as a mistreated orphan who finds a world of magic as she visits the Chicago World's Fair. The start was promising. When we reached the magical elements, the middle-grade sweet spot disappears.
The magic rules are hard to follow, it's very disjointed and full of creepy edicts from this mysterious magical man to an 11-year-old girl: Come to the fair- in the middle of the night and make sure you are alone. Come live at this magical house, don't worry- we will magically make it so no one will remember you are gone. Memories are taken without consent and fuzzy memory gaps happen more than once.
The obedience of the main characters to these mandates in order to learn magic felt equivalent to a kid willingly taking off in a random car because a stranger is offering them candy. Given the age range of the target readers for this genre, this is not the best device to drive the plot.