Amazon.com: Review of Fablehaven

Amazon.com: Review of Fablehaven

Likeable book - passed on to me by my nephew. Not quite as complex as Harry Potter (which is actually charming) - but not as spell-binding as the Spiderwick books. I do really like Kendra's sensibility & spirit - and while the rambunctious nature of her brother Seth is an expectation for a boy his age - his completely spastic inability to contain himself repeatedly to his own detriment is over the top. It tempers as the book goes on - but is disappointing for quite a while. The formula of this book is well-worn by a growing number of authors lately - it's always odd to see that Obert Skye is on the front of the book with a dull quip, "it's a lucky book that can hold this kind of story" when he is out there concurrently shilling his own take on this same formula. Although he does have a point - Fablehaven is a good find in a book. I still wish the older Alan Garner series could have a resurgence - if anything as a next step to show that you can depict that the main characters are kids/brother/sister but that they can be clever and smart, too. Like a next step into Charles DeLint... Fablehaven gets its own voice and strength in Kendra's spirited awakening near the book's end - where she has to stop holding back and hesitating and take action and rescue her family and Fablehaven alone. I am moving on to the 2nd book now...

BOOK: The Road, Cormac McCarthy

This is a beautiful and surprising account of a father and son - a journey of absolute endings. There are no wasted words or efforts. The language and the story are concise. The world has been destroyed; nature is burned to a crisp; the few humans that are left are scattered and not to be trusted. This father and his son are moving away from winter's coming trying to find a warmer place - nothing is considered safe - and finding food is chancy at best. I started this book and read through it in two days - not wanting to stop or put it down. I was heart broken several times in the book as the little boy becomes older and wiser than typical for his age just by observing the world. Random moments: When the two enter a house and draw a gun on their own reflections in the mirror not knowing themselves anymore. "It's us, Papa, the boy whispered It's us." Later - the father observes that to his son he is "... an alien. A being from a planet that no longer existed." Taking place in a destroyed world - the story is allowed to examine deeply the relationship between these two - trust, belief, love and questioning one another - and growing together and apart along the way.