This is the first book in the House of Secrets series. The best thing about this book were the illustrations and the quality of the book; it is a beautifully constructed book with deckled pages and thick high quality paper.
The story itself was pretty shallow and empty; there is a lot of action and things move quickly but somehow it just wasn't engaging. There just didn't seem to be much of a bigger picture with this story. The family of kids are just running frantically from one event to the next.
Given the above, despite all the action, things ended up feeling repetitive. By the end, although it wasn't written awfully or anything, I just wanted to be done with this book and move on to something else.
I was a bit surprised at how vicious the story was at points. This is a middle grade story yet the kids were beaten, tortured, and very violent at times. The level of violence seemed a bit over the top for a middle grade read.
Overall this was an okay fantasy adventure story. Younger kids, who are less critical than me, might enjoy the fast-pace...however the level of violence might be too much for them. This is one of those books where I struggle to see what audience the authors were aiming for. The story is too shallow for the YA/adult reader but a bit too vicious for kids. I don't plan on continuing the series.
The story itself was pretty shallow and empty; there is a lot of action and things move quickly but somehow it just wasn't engaging. There just didn't seem to be much of a bigger picture with this story. The family of kids are just running frantically from one event to the next.
Given the above, despite all the action, things ended up feeling repetitive. By the end, although it wasn't written awfully or anything, I just wanted to be done with this book and move on to something else.
I was a bit surprised at how vicious the story was at points. This is a middle grade story yet the kids were beaten, tortured, and very violent at times. The level of violence seemed a bit over the top for a middle grade read.
Overall this was an okay fantasy adventure story. Younger kids, who are less critical than me, might enjoy the fast-pace...however the level of violence might be too much for them. This is one of those books where I struggle to see what audience the authors were aiming for. The story is too shallow for the YA/adult reader but a bit too vicious for kids. I don't plan on continuing the series.
