General impression
I know that after reading The Iron King a few days ago I concluded I had to take a break from YA, and yet here I am, just having read yet another YA book. Unfortunately the result is the exact same: I found it boring to tears, despite it being very appreciated by the rest of the word (4.10 on Goodreads, about 4 sequels to date). A major sign that I really really really have to give YA up for at least a while.
This being said, I may be considered extra picky, but just look at the first few sentences: “Kendra stared out the side window of the SUV, watching foliage blur past. When the flurry of motion became too much, she looked up ahead and fixed her gaze on a particular tree, following it as it slowly approached, streaked past, and then gradually receded behind her.” How can trees blur past and yet slowly approach at the same time?? Is this a promising beginning for a book?
Characters
This is my major problem with the book actually, the characters. Their lack of interesting traits for one thing. The fact that every time I read the name Kendra the only other Kendra I ever read about came to my mind didn’t much help. The fact that Seth seemed to have a profound inability to follow the rules didn’t much help either (on the contrary, he must be the single most annoying character I “met” in recent years; I get the idea that boys like adventures and breaking the rules, but this Seth guy managed to push the limit farther than far, including in life and death situations when he, fascinatingly enough, firmly believed he knew better than anyone else, and acted accordingly; not only that but he never learns from his mistakes, despite his grandfather’s always explaining him things in no uncertain terms). Looking at the bright side, Kendra was almost his very opposite, always thinking before she leaped, and so on. Which means that she didn’t annoy me as her brother did, although unfortunately I didn’t find her particularly interesting either. Overall I was way too annoyed at Seth’s behaviour to care about what happens to him or anyone else, a thing that naturally enough brought my enjoyment of the book to 0.
A character I did like was Lena, the naiad-turned-human. She was quite interesting, not in the least because of her abilities (but does anyone actually believe in the possibility of her sketching a paint-by-numbers with more than ninety colors? And then an amateur, like the children were, being able to mix the paints to match all the ninety samples?)
Also, can I say I loved Viola the huge cow? I know that she hardly does anything throughout the book, but still, it is a huge cow, I simply had to like her :)
Relationships
Although one of the kids mostly annoyed me, while the other was interesting but not interesting enough, I have much enjoyed reading about the relationship between them. They always banter with one another, and it’s the very kind of banter that I love seeing in books and that I think very few writers can actually write (Yasmine Galenorn will probably always come to my mind when it comes to this kind of banter done wrong). The relationship between siblings at that age I think is wonderfully drawn, and it’s definitely one of the fortes of the book.
Plot
The plot seemed to me to be rather thin, since very few things actually happen (or so it seemed to me). It’s kinda hard to care about the plot when you don’t care whether the characters live or die, so… meh. The plot was probably there, I couldn’t care less, that’s about all I have to say about it.
Although now that I think about it there was sort of a detail that has somewhat bothered me: all the praise the grandfather heaps on the children for being able to solve his puzzle and discover his fairies. Also, it felt rather weird for the grandfather to change his version of events almost daily — “don’t go to the woods ’cause there are ticks”, “well, I lied, don’t go to the woods ’cause there are dangerous animals there”, “no, I lied, don’t go to the woods ’cause there are all sorts of magical creatures”. Not a very good example, is he? And the puzzle, really? Was that even a puzzle, having to find three keyholes and a book??
Speaking of the puzzle, and “drinking the milk”, am I the only one who found it a bit strange when Kendra, told that the milk was essentially “a bacterial stew” and not daring to drink it herself, convinced her brother to take a sip? At that moment in time, with the knowledge she had then, it felt almost like making him drink poison to see whether he’ll feel sick afterwards. And to think I earlier commented on the great relationship between the two.
Setting
Well, at least Fablehaven is a great place to be in. I must say I would have enjoyed visiting there for a few days (while, of course, keeping away from the woods, and the ponds, and every other dangerous place) :P
Thoughts on the title
I love it :) I love both the word and the idea it depicts. I don’t imagine a better one could have been found.
Thoughts on the ending
I don’t quite know what to think of it. First of all because by then I was almost skimming the pages, just to see the book over with, already. I do admit it was quite nicely done though, probably the best one in the circumstances (although I very much disliked the part with getting blood from my precious Viola), and I would probably have enjoyed it had I actually cared about the characters :|
What I liked most
I loved to imagine the fairies :)
The author has chosen to make almost all fairies look different from one another (one with wings patterned like a ladybug was my favorite, and another with the wings looking like stained glass), and imagining how each of them might look like was definitely the thing I enjoyed most.
What I liked least
Since I have already listed all sorts of details I did not like, there’s nothing much that remains to be said here. I will just mention the cover — the reason why I started reading this book is that the cover depicts a friendly old lady, a green one, with playful eyes and a knowing smile, daring the reader to enter her world. A green lady whom I was looking forward to discover and get to know, so you probably imagine my disappointment when I realized there was no such friendly, mysterious lady in the book (quite the opposite actually).
Recommend it to?
As usual, given the fact that lots of people love this book, I recommend to everyone who loves YA to at least give it a try, despite my huge list of “meh” elements found in it.
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