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A review by librariandest
The Strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
3.0
If I'm judging this purely as an entertaining genre mystery for kids, this is great. Classic Haddix, which is to say: it's a page-turner that leaves you craving the next in the series.
If I'm judging this as literature, I'm a little disappointed with the characters. I thought Finn seemed more like five years old (he's meant to be eight). Maybe this was due to the audiobook narrator's performance. Either way, he's meant to be the baby of the family and it didn't always feel believable. Chess, Emma and Natalie also fell a little flat -- all were somewhat reduced to one memorable characteristic (Emma = logic, Chess = responsible, Natalie = alpha).
As science fiction, I'm left scratching my head as to how some of the alternate dimension stuff works. For example, But the confusing bits might be explained in later books.
If I'm judging this as literature, I'm a little disappointed with the characters. I thought Finn seemed more like five years old (he's meant to be eight). Maybe this was due to the audiobook narrator's performance. Either way, he's meant to be the baby of the family and it didn't always feel believable. Chess, Emma and Natalie also fell a little flat -- all were somewhat reduced to one memorable characteristic (Emma = logic, Chess = responsible, Natalie = alpha).
As science fiction, I'm left scratching my head as to how some of the alternate dimension stuff works. For example,