Scan barcode
A review by bluestjuice
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
4.0
I read this in quick succession after The House with a Clock In Its Walls (because I have a trilogy anthology, yo!), and I liked it better than the original. Possibly because I read it faster (these are short books, in youth lit tradition, and tearing through it more or less in a sitting is both possible and pleasurable), and possibly because the character of Rose Rita is a fantastic addition that the not-totally-likable Lewis benefited from. The realism of the world continues to charm, with just enough slightly unusual twistiness to keep it interesting, until the actual spookery comes in. That is not quite as believable, but it's also limited to such small doses that it isn't off-putting. The scale of the magic is in keeping with the rest of the world.
As in the previous, I am amused at how little regard Lewis' caretakers have for sleep or appropriate nutrition. I do believe the child subsists on a diet of chocolate chip cookies and cocoa. But I also appreciate how the adults are portrayed doing their own adult things and letting the kids do their thing, while simultaneously including them in the family life. There is a trope in YA literature of grown-ups being insufferably stupid and needing to be protected from the dangers in which the youthful protagonists get swept up, and it is nice to see that subverted.
As in the previous, I am amused at how little regard Lewis' caretakers have for sleep or appropriate nutrition. I do believe the child subsists on a diet of chocolate chip cookies and cocoa. But I also appreciate how the adults are portrayed doing their own adult things and letting the kids do their thing, while simultaneously including them in the family life. There is a trope in YA literature of grown-ups being insufferably stupid and needing to be protected from the dangers in which the youthful protagonists get swept up, and it is nice to see that subverted.