You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

becoming_shelf_aware's Reviews (154)

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Made for children, but there are so many flaws and constant repetition. I think kids of today deserve a re-work of this title. I read quite a few of these as a child, and some are definitely better than others. 

Would love to see some of these titles "remastered" if you will, as i think a total Goosebumps resurgence is long overdue. Excited to read some of these with my kids when they get older.
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated
adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher

E.M. Anderson

DID NOT FINISH: 41%

This book sort of just loses steam over and over again. It will get good, and action packed, but then totally flounders with no follow through. I feel like problems arise, and there's no resolution - they just move on and do something else or the story goes in another direction very abruptly. 

Really disappointed because I love an immersive and descriptive fantasy, but there's just none of that here. I usually can "see" the story in my mind as Im reading, but there isn't really any world building or description of any setting.
Edna was just battling a dragon and I was so confused on what was happening. One paragraph she was outside preparing for battle and then suddenly in the next she was stabbing a dragon while other people were shooting guns at it? No build up, no drama. Just doing "a" and then "b."

The author could've written an entire page on the description of the battlefield, or the hospital that was being attacked. Instead they wrote about Edna going through an emergency exit, calling for her carpet, some other bad guy shooting at her with a bow and arrow that we didn't know he even had, and suddenly she was stabbing a dragon. After all of that rushed storytelling, the dragon and what I assumed to be Redway, just flew away. Nothing else, new chapter. What a buzzkill. I had previously been hemming an hawing over DNF-ing this book, and after reading that I had enough.


My other issue is the melding of modern day, and a magical/dragon filled fantasy. I've never read a book that has done that successfully. Not to say it can't be done, but the mood and beauty of a true fantasy is instantly killed when someone whips out their cellphone or uses a GPS.
adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

"That's the funny thing about those in power. They underestimate everyone beneath them, even knowing their secrets are heard by someone."

This was such a fantastic follow up to The House in the Cerulean Sea! I cried, laughed, and cried some more! Fantastic, and forever sending praises to TJ Klune for his beautiful mind.