Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great fun!, 18 Sep 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
The title of the book is intriguing - but the beginning is even more so. From the moment you open it and read the first sentence, you are drawn into a book that may well rival the wonderful Lemony Snickett series of Unfortunate Events! I don't want to say too much about it, as I really don't want to give anything away. Suffice to say, I didn't want to put it down!
A fantastic book for 9 to 12 year olds - perhaps a great Christmas present.
Enjoy! (I did!)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent and original, 19 July 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This book is is aimed at 12 - 16 year olds, its in a class of its own.
My 14 year old daughter sat down this morning and read the book in one go, she could not put it down. She thought it was absolutely brilliant, and is keen to read any future books by this author.
She is an avid reader, and is a huge Harry Potter fan, along with Philip Pullman, Neil Gaiman, etc, but this book is so different from all the others she has read.
The story is packed with humour and intrigue, mystery, and adventure involving kidnaps, secrets and rescues.
The author has written in first person point of view.
He has used a technique where the narrator will, at times, address the reader, drawing them in on a highly personal level, then holding back, and raising the suspense up several notches. He hooks you from the start and theres no release, until the end.
Although this book has 304 pages, the text is not small and cramped, so there is not as much to get through as you might first presume.
This book is a winner.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extremely witty and engaging , 26 Aug 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Although I am somewhat older than the (young adult) target audience, I enjoyed this book enormously.
The book's narrator is an incredibly witty character, which imbues an otherwise relatively normal kids fantasy story with something special (it reminded me somewhat of the Lemony Snicket stories). The first chapter indeed tells you not to read the book, since it's a secret....
Once you reach a point in the book at which you are permitted to know something about the story, you learn that the tale regards two youngsters, Cass and Max-Ernest (the narrator is keen to stress that these are pseudonyms he has applied to the characters to keep things as secret as possible) and their investigations into the mysteries of a dead magician, his house, notebook and a box called the Symphony of Smells, and the danger this leads them into.
I can't tell you any more since it's a secret, you'll have to read it, I really do recommend it ;-)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Pseudonymous Bosch
by Pseudonymous Bosch
by Trenton Lee Stewart
by Trenton Lee Stewart
by Steve Augarde
