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anistasiabelle 's review for:
The Ickabog
by J.K. Rowling
I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, read (and loved) all of Ms. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike detective series, so picking up this book was a no-brainer for me. Personally, Ms. Rowling can be depended upon to build wonderful, endearing characters.
She didn’t disappoint on that count. So why the 3-star review? This book was 100% not my expectations, and some of that was incredibly frustrating.
I was expecting a children’s book. Though the story was easily relatable, for 4th and up -grade readers, the themes were inappropriately harsh IMO. I am not a prude by any means, but here are the topics you will have to consider when reading this book with your children (mild spoilers):
—Political maneuvering, government lies resulting in political prisoners tortured in cells for years without release or trial
—Extreme poverty and government cruelty
—Multiple parents who die, and the grief situations that result from the children and widowed parent coping with the loss
—Child abuse and neglect severe enough to result in the death of said children (literally described as a graveyard filling up)
—Parents at the brink of starvation having to give up their children because they cannot afford them
—Multiple people murdered and lives destroyed for the sake of the political lies
Did it end well? Um... if you’re willing to get through all of the above warnings and still say, “sign me up for this jolly good time!” then I won’t ruin the ending for you. Feel free to PM me if you want to know before you start. I will say it felt like a slog but we finished it.
She didn’t disappoint on that count. So why the 3-star review? This book was 100% not my expectations, and some of that was incredibly frustrating.
I was expecting a children’s book. Though the story was easily relatable, for 4th and up -grade readers, the themes were inappropriately harsh IMO. I am not a prude by any means, but here are the topics you will have to consider when reading this book with your children (mild spoilers):
—Political maneuvering, government lies resulting in political prisoners tortured in cells for years without release or trial
—Extreme poverty and government cruelty
—Multiple parents who die, and the grief situations that result from the children and widowed parent coping with the loss
—Child abuse and neglect severe enough to result in the death of said children (literally described as a graveyard filling up)
—Parents at the brink of starvation having to give up their children because they cannot afford them
—Multiple people murdered and lives destroyed for the sake of the political lies
Did it end well? Um... if you’re willing to get through all of the above warnings and still say, “sign me up for this jolly good time!” then I won’t ruin the ending for you. Feel free to PM me if you want to know before you start. I will say it felt like a slog but we finished it.