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A review by avalinahsbooks
The Casket of Time by Andri Snær Magnason
4.0
At first I was going to give The Casket of Time 3 stars. I was even stuck in it and left it sitting for a few months (at least 3...) But eventually, as I came back, I realized that it's just blurbed wrong. The blurb doing the book a huge disservice, because the reader isn't getting what they expected. As soon as I realized that, I had no more problems with The Casket of Time and finished it in a couple of days. The primary problem for me with my expectations was that the blurb sort of makes you expect a middle grade adventure – a handful of kids trying to save the world, in which all of the adults have essentially frozen themselves in time, until someone else fixes everything. But that is absolutely not what you're getting. Yes, those kids do exist, but several pages in, one of the characters starts telling a story to the kids. And guess what, 50% in you're still reading the story in the story. And only 85% in does it actually get connected to the present world.
Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a story in a story – but when the blurb told you that's not what was going to happen, you get irritated. Especially when you were expecting a middle grade adventure, but instead you get a fantasy fairytale that's essentially is a retelling of Snow White. That was nowhere on the blurb. I don't even read fantasy! What was the publisher thinking, blurbing it like that?
Long story short, if it wasn't a review copy, I would have DNFed. BUT! If you look at The Casket of Time as a fantasy or even retelling, its' great! I enjoyed it after I stopped waiting for there to be more chapters set in the present. Moreover, it has a great message about today's world – how we always wait for someone else to clean up the mess and don't realize we need to quit our ecologically destructive lifestyle. And its not just that, the ending is also pretty amazing. I wasn't expecting for the book to go there and it truly touched my heart.
So if you like fantasy and retellings and you care about how we humans affect the life on this planet, you are probably going to love The Casket of Time. Just start reading with the knowledge that this isn't a middle grade adventure set in the present day.
I thank the publisher for a free ebook review copy through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest opinion. It has not affected my review.
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Well, there's absolutely nothing wrong with a story in a story – but when the blurb told you that's not what was going to happen, you get irritated. Especially when you were expecting a middle grade adventure, but instead you get a fantasy fairytale that's essentially is a retelling of Snow White. That was nowhere on the blurb. I don't even read fantasy! What was the publisher thinking, blurbing it like that?
Long story short, if it wasn't a review copy, I would have DNFed. BUT! If you look at The Casket of Time as a fantasy or even retelling, its' great! I enjoyed it after I stopped waiting for there to be more chapters set in the present. Moreover, it has a great message about today's world – how we always wait for someone else to clean up the mess and don't realize we need to quit our ecologically destructive lifestyle. And its not just that, the ending is also pretty amazing. I wasn't expecting for the book to go there and it truly touched my heart.
So if you like fantasy and retellings and you care about how we humans affect the life on this planet, you are probably going to love The Casket of Time. Just start reading with the knowledge that this isn't a middle grade adventure set in the present day.
I thank the publisher for a free ebook review copy through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest opinion. It has not affected my review.
Book Blog | Themed Bookstagram | Quick Update Bookstagram | Bookish Twitter