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leahrosekessler 's review for:
The Gauntlet
by Karuna Riazi
I have to say that I was disappointed by this book, and I was so sad to be disappointed. The synopsis sounds wonderful: " a steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair." The similarity to Jumanji came across loud and clear, as did the "Middle Eastern flair" (more on that later), but steampunk, it was not. The city the kids spend most of the book in shifts, and they watch it from a great distance doing its thing, and it was created by someone called "The Architect," implying that it must have been built in a creative way, but none of the world building said "Steampunk" to me. The most vivid sense I got of the world was very much a vision of sand and stone, busy Middle Eastern markets, the hustle and bustle of very human people dressed in colorful clothing, not so much as a gear in sight. I did like the imagery of the world, but if you're excited to find a steampunk middle grade book, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.
The thing I truly loved about this book (and it's the thing that raised this up to three stars for me - because character, plot, and writing-wise, I'd give The Gauntlet a solid two stars) is that it centers a Muslim character as the protagonist. Not only that, but she and her friends are transported to a fantasy world the reflects her heritage.
The book is absolutely full of reference to clothing, food, customs, family names, etc. that are not necessarily going to be familiar to the average American 5th grader and yet, the author (and editors) resisted the urge to translate every unfamiliar word. Hooray! I've read a lot of books that contain words that are "unusual" (read: from a non-western, non-Christian cultural or linguistic background), in which it was felt necessary that each novel word be defined or explained before the story moves on. This is fantasy. Kids are used to reading fantasy and encountering words they're unfamiliar with. They add to the tone and feel of the world, and if they're important, they can generally be understood from the context. There's no need to point out how "different" these words are, because in the world of this story, (and of the main character, the author, and many of the book's potential readers) they are not different at all-they are familiar, and that is going to make the reading experience of this book so much richer for lots of Muslim kids.
I read this book right after finishing Moonglow, which is aimed at a much more erudite, adult audience than this action packed middle grade fantasy, but my experience with Moonglow, which I was so delighted to discover was packed with little references to Jewishness and familiar Yiddish words, has made me even more aware of how refreshingly comfortable and recognizable this book will be to young readers that don't often get to see themselves in mainstream fantasy.
As I mentioned above, I was unimpressed with the characters in this story. I especially found the sidekick characters lacking. I gathered that one friend is kind of a headstrong go-getter, and the other is timid and not terribly courageous, but they didn't have much in the way of personality. I remember one line of dialogue from the middle where I suddenly got a glimpse of Alex's personality and I was so excited to see more of him, but that was it.
I also found the plot a little lackluster. For one example, I couldn't believe that the huge final showdown was as non-monumental and easy as it turned out to be. (There was basically one minute's worth of "darn what was that word?" and then everything was fine. No tension whatsoever in the climactic scene.) That said, I've reread some books that I remember from my childhood as being very deep and complex and found them unbelievably thin through my adult eyes. Maybe this is one of those books that will feel rich and monumental to a younger audience.
Speaking of a younger audience, I'm not sure what the intended age range for this book is. There is some very complex vocabulary used (and I'm not talking about words that come from a different language), and it was full of extremely long sentences that changed topic multiple times, which tend to be difficult for young readers, yet the subject matter and behavior of the characters made the book feel like it would be best suited to kids on the lower end of the middle grade spectrum. I'd say content-wise, probably 3rd-5th graders would enjoy this most (and I say that as a former elementary school teacher), but struggling readers and some even grade-level readers in that age range might have difficulty with comprehension. I think it might make a good read aloud for that reason.
The thing I truly loved about this book (and it's the thing that raised this up to three stars for me - because character, plot, and writing-wise, I'd give The Gauntlet a solid two stars) is that it centers a Muslim character as the protagonist. Not only that, but she and her friends are transported to a fantasy world the reflects her heritage.
The book is absolutely full of reference to clothing, food, customs, family names, etc. that are not necessarily going to be familiar to the average American 5th grader and yet, the author (and editors) resisted the urge to translate every unfamiliar word. Hooray! I've read a lot of books that contain words that are "unusual" (read: from a non-western, non-Christian cultural or linguistic background), in which it was felt necessary that each novel word be defined or explained before the story moves on. This is fantasy. Kids are used to reading fantasy and encountering words they're unfamiliar with. They add to the tone and feel of the world, and if they're important, they can generally be understood from the context. There's no need to point out how "different" these words are, because in the world of this story, (and of the main character, the author, and many of the book's potential readers) they are not different at all-they are familiar, and that is going to make the reading experience of this book so much richer for lots of Muslim kids.
I read this book right after finishing Moonglow, which is aimed at a much more erudite, adult audience than this action packed middle grade fantasy, but my experience with Moonglow, which I was so delighted to discover was packed with little references to Jewishness and familiar Yiddish words, has made me even more aware of how refreshingly comfortable and recognizable this book will be to young readers that don't often get to see themselves in mainstream fantasy.
As I mentioned above, I was unimpressed with the characters in this story. I especially found the sidekick characters lacking. I gathered that one friend is kind of a headstrong go-getter, and the other is timid and not terribly courageous, but they didn't have much in the way of personality. I remember one line of dialogue from the middle where I suddenly got a glimpse of Alex's personality and I was so excited to see more of him, but that was it.
I also found the plot a little lackluster. For one example, I couldn't believe that the huge final showdown was as non-monumental and easy as it turned out to be. (There was basically one minute's worth of "darn what was that word?" and then everything was fine. No tension whatsoever in the climactic scene.) That said, I've reread some books that I remember from my childhood as being very deep and complex and found them unbelievably thin through my adult eyes. Maybe this is one of those books that will feel rich and monumental to a younger audience.
Speaking of a younger audience, I'm not sure what the intended age range for this book is. There is some very complex vocabulary used (and I'm not talking about words that come from a different language), and it was full of extremely long sentences that changed topic multiple times, which tend to be difficult for young readers, yet the subject matter and behavior of the characters made the book feel like it would be best suited to kids on the lower end of the middle grade spectrum. I'd say content-wise, probably 3rd-5th graders would enjoy this most (and I say that as a former elementary school teacher), but struggling readers and some even grade-level readers in that age range might have difficulty with comprehension. I think it might make a good read aloud for that reason.