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A review by wrentheblurry
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
3.0
You have 3 orphans. The oldest, Kate, is also the most responsible. The boy and middle child, Michael, is a geeky, Dwarf-loving talkative smart kid. The youngest, Emma, is the snarky and sarcastic one. Oh, and of course, they all love each other dearly and express it, though Emma and Michael fight just enough to make you think they are less clichéd than they really are. Or maybe that makes them more clichéd?
Their childhood has been difficult, bouncing from orphanage to orphanage, wondering if their parents will ever return for them, and why they had to leave them in the first place. But soon the adventure begins, and the kids are transported back in time to a place filled with magic...and Dwarves. And monsters. Oh, and they did this by using a book.
Then begins all sorts of trauma and all manner of dangerous situations, from imprisonment to separation and plenty of other stuff. It's a fine story, but maybe I am just too old and jaded to enjoy this sort of thing more than I did. But wait! It's not just me that thinks this is unoriginal! This was a bedtime story to my two sons (13 and 11). The 11 year old gave it "3.5 stars. I would have liked it better if so many things didn't seem like they were done before." And there you have it.
Still, I must note that no one (including me!) requested to stop the book. It's not *bad*, it's just not as good as maybe it could have been. I did enjoy the character development; their separate personalities and such made reading their spoken lines aloud all the more fun (and easier). So at points it did not matter so much that it felt familiar and sometimes eye-rolling. Also, both kids requested to read the sequel. There is a third planned as well, but the sequel is still fairly new.
Admittedly, my mind wandered during a fair bit of the reading. It was easy to do, the writing did not have an iron grip on me, and I can read out loud pretty much on auto-pilot. Thankfully the kids paid attention and were always willing to remind me who was who and when did THAT happen and other stuff.
Towards the end, during the especially dramatic scenes, I noticed the author uses the word "leapt" a lot. Enough that I noticed, and then he used it even more, and my noticing was upgraded to irritation. Minor, but still. I can blame the editor for that.
Overall, it's a decent fantasy read. The description for this calls it a Narnia for the tween set. I can see that, though the fights in The Emerald Atlas don't have the same epic feel, and I don't think there were any talking animals or moving trees. But I'd have to ask the kids to be sure. ;)
Their childhood has been difficult, bouncing from orphanage to orphanage, wondering if their parents will ever return for them, and why they had to leave them in the first place. But soon the adventure begins, and the kids are transported back in time to a place filled with magic...and Dwarves. And monsters. Oh, and they did this by using a book.
Then begins all sorts of trauma and all manner of dangerous situations, from imprisonment to separation and plenty of other stuff. It's a fine story, but maybe I am just too old and jaded to enjoy this sort of thing more than I did. But wait! It's not just me that thinks this is unoriginal! This was a bedtime story to my two sons (13 and 11). The 11 year old gave it "3.5 stars. I would have liked it better if so many things didn't seem like they were done before." And there you have it.
Still, I must note that no one (including me!) requested to stop the book. It's not *bad*, it's just not as good as maybe it could have been. I did enjoy the character development; their separate personalities and such made reading their spoken lines aloud all the more fun (and easier). So at points it did not matter so much that it felt familiar and sometimes eye-rolling. Also, both kids requested to read the sequel. There is a third planned as well, but the sequel is still fairly new.
Admittedly, my mind wandered during a fair bit of the reading. It was easy to do, the writing did not have an iron grip on me, and I can read out loud pretty much on auto-pilot. Thankfully the kids paid attention and were always willing to remind me who was who and when did THAT happen and other stuff.
Towards the end, during the especially dramatic scenes, I noticed the author uses the word "leapt" a lot. Enough that I noticed, and then he used it even more, and my noticing was upgraded to irritation. Minor, but still. I can blame the editor for that.
Overall, it's a decent fantasy read. The description for this calls it a Narnia for the tween set. I can see that, though the fights in The Emerald Atlas don't have the same epic feel, and I don't think there were any talking animals or moving trees. But I'd have to ask the kids to be sure. ;)