A review by bookdragon_library
The Sunken Tower by Tait Howard

2.0

Full color illustrations seem to be the key to engage most of the students in my K-4 school so this one intrigued me. The illustrations right away on page 3 make me feel like I was in a “Where’s Waldo?” or similar hide and find book. I’m not used to seeing smoking in kid’s books much any more so noticed the pipe smoking police/guard on page 8. Page 13 has an awkward illustration of the kid’s head in the stomach area of someone and then he’s getting tied up. I probably would not add this for my 4th graders due to the language and themes being a bit above their heads with blood cults, etc. The dialogue is pretty flat and I’m not quite sure the whole story of the main character even after reading it. I appreciate the LGTBQ girl-girl rep but the relationship is flat like the rest of characters. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital copy.