booking_along's Reviews (1.97k)

funny and entertaining and just there for a good time. 


this reminds me a bit of those pretty mindless but utterly entertaining movies that if you really think about them make absolutely no sense and the characters and everything about them is superior BUT if you don’t think about it and just enjoy and go with it it’s very fun and a great time (aka any action and adventure movie from the Mission impossible ones to things like Indiana jones). 

and i enjoyed this book a lot. 
i need a mindless fun read because i had a bad day/week/month/year(s) „recently“ so i just wanted something that takes me away from all that and this was it. 

the whole storytelling way of learning to piece together the things and what’s going on with the main character was fun for me and the writing was just fun too. 


honestly that’s just all there is to say about this: it’s fun! 

so don’t go into this expecting something epic or world changing or the best thing you will ever read and you will have a good time. 

this was okay. 

i am sure it’s a fun read for anyone around the age of 9-10. 


but it’s not a very enjoyable read for anyone above that age, it’s just too much action and adventure and too little actual plot and logical behavior or moments. 

this book was a little better in the sense that it was more realistic by mentioning that they have to be more careful with money and look at what they are spending and where because they don’t have unlimited resources. 

but other then then it was very much too convenient in too many places, it’s not  fun how often everyone constantly catches up with the siblings even though apparently there is only one clue and the siblings have it so why is everyone else always at least at the same step as they are or even ahead?! 


as i said - good middle grade for middle graders not the best for adult readers. 

this was okay. 

it was very much written for the middle grade audience and age group. 

you know how there are kids and middle grade books that everyone can read and love no matter the age because it’s just written in a way that it works for all ages? 

well this isn’t one of those books. 

from the writing to the plot, the behavior of the characters and how the entire mystery and story builds up… it’s middle grade. 

the „jokes“ are not funny for anyone over the age of 11/12 nor is the situation of two younger kids running around without actual adults to look out for them entertaining or nice. 

the other relatives are all the typical bad guy villains -i was missing the mustache twirl but everything else was on this i think?

its all over the top and too much and too little at the same time (no actual world building or explanations or any real sense in how this is all supposed to work or why it’s done that way or with the clues … ) it’s just all left too unexplained to really work if you are not just going with the flow or are completely enamored with the action and adventure and idea of traveling along through the world without anyone telling you it’s time to go to bed or that only eating chocolate croissants is a bad idea. 

there is a lot of action and adventure, lots of wild running around and looking for things without really knowing where or how it should go or what they are actually looking for but finding it anyways in some miraculous way there never discussed. 

there is never mention of why orphaned children are allowed to leave the country without any relative to accommodate them or at least a mention of anyone in the US or french airport questioning them. 

why? because how many kid would think like that? 

how many kids reading this type of book go into this wanting logic and reality? or even think about what goes into traveling and how it all works and what’s need to be done for it to actually be possible? 
i won’t say non because i am sure there are kids that could have planed a world tour with all recruitments needed at age 8 BUT generally speaking? no kid of this target audience will care about the real details. 

they are not reading this book for its realistic portrayal of what kids their age can actually do. 
they are reading it because it gives them their version of mission impossible or i guess kind of spy kids (never saw that movie(s?) where the kids are the ones having the action and going on the adventure. 


all that being said is this a bad book? 

no absolutely not. 

i am sure if i would have read this at age 10 i would have at least had an incredibly entertaining time reading this and being sweeped up in the adventure. 
i know myself well enough to know that even then the relatives and their behavior as well as Dans behavior in some instances would have still annoyed me but besides that this would have been a fun read for me. 


so as a middle grade book? a solid 3-4 star read for any one looking for an entertaining adventure and action filled story. 


as an adult reading this? 1.5-2 stars? maybe? because there is just a lot lacking most of all logic and just common sense in it all. 

BUT its not a book targeted towards my age group! so rating it for whom its for? 3 stars it is. 

this was fun and i think i will go back to this after listening to the podcast (which yes i read this book before listening to any of the podcast that this book is based on, i am just not a podcast person!) and i would guess it would make this book even better because the background stuff makes more sense. 

rating and reviewing it without knowing any of the podcast storylines: this was good. 


it’s an entertaining and well done mystery, sometimes pretty brutal but not horrifically so. 


i do find the ages of main characters and their behavior as well as the acceptance of the adults of what they are doing a bit strange (my mom sure as hell wouldn’t have let me wander of trying to solve a murder or hunt after a hidden treasure that people got killed for with a smile and a wave! especially if another case went mostly belly up (the whole killer stuff from the podcast that i am missing the background stuff off but could puzzle together well enough with the details given in this book)).

would i found this more enjoyable and believable if the characters would been 18+ or in their 20s? yes. absolutely. 
but oh well. 


the mystery and murder aspects of the book were okay and mostly well done and i did enjoy how it all wrapped up for the most parts. 


it’s definitely Ancrum‘s writing style that carried me through this book for some parts of it, since some sections were completely and utterly unbelievable and too over the top with how a whole town tried to solve a riddle for years and years and people got killed but nobody solved and then some small group of people from the town decided enough was enough and just erased the entire thing by taken away books and maps … and people just went with it? they just talked about of people killed to get the clues and all of a sudden it didn’t matter anymore? 
mhm. 

so this wasn’t the best thriller/mystery nor the any way or form the most realistic one. 

but overall it was fun and a pretty quick read so there is that. 

as i said i am guessing the actual podcast lethal lit would have added layers (hopefully?) that might have made this a bit better. 


as it stands: good and entertaining but not a must read and in my opinion not the best of ancrum‘s works by a long shot but not bad either. 

take from that what you will. 

nice little story with some real facts/ people but fictionalization of it. 

it was well written and a good story. 

i didn’t feel particularly connected to either the story nor the characters which is why i can’t personally rate it higher - the story itself was interesting and i don’t know if the author needs a longer way to build a connection between the story and the reader of if i just didn’t connect - no idea. 


either way it was interesting and overall well done.  

Fun and entertaining and a good read for middle graders. 

If you have a middle grader that enjoys a supernatural book? This is a nice one to get for them. 

The translation was well done, the illustrations nice and the overall story okay. 

I personally don’t think it’s the best book for anyone over the age of 13, since it is a bit childishly done and while a lot of middle grade books are easily enjoyed and equally good for oder and younger readers, this particular one is one I personally don’t think fits that bill. But it doesn’t have to, it’s a middle grade book so it only has to be for the specific age group that it’s for and it does that. 


Overall good book.

Gefüllt mit Informationen über Hexen, angefangen von was es bedeutet, wo das Wort womöglich herkommt über die Hexenjagd hin bis was es heute ist, so wie Anmerkungen über die Popularität bestimmter Hexen (mir gefällt besonders das Willow erwähnt wurde aus der TV show Buffy - I’m Bann der Dämonen, da dieser Charakter und ihr Dasein zu ihrer Zeit im Fernsehen einige Rahmen gesprengt hat!) und endet mit einer Zusammenfassung von Dingen die man fast als Grundwissen für einen Hexenlehrling bezeichnen könnte (oder suche unnachgiebig nur interessante Infos über bestimmte Pflanzen und Tiere und deren Geschichte.) 


Persönlich finde ich es ist eher ein Buch das für über 12 jährige ist, was lediglich daran liegt das ich denke für die meisten Leser die jünger sind vieles von dem Buch zu unverständlich und/oder kompliziert sein könnten und man ab 12 doch schon etwas mehr wissen hat, besonders mit historischen Momenten, griechischen göttern und bestimmten Medien wie zum Beispiel b+Buchserien und TV Shows. 
Das heißt nicht das kontere Leser nicht ebenfalls davon etwas lernen können, nur das ich denke sie brauchen entweder etwas Hilfe um alles zu verstehen oder müssen etwas nachschlagen. 


Im ganzen ist es ein tolles Buch und super interessant gestaltet und gefüllt mit guten Informationen! 

Definitiv ein super Buch nicht nur für Hexen Liebhaber und interessiere an dem Thema, sondern auch für jeden der etwas über die überwegs brutale und tödliche aber interessante Geschichte vieler Frauen auf der ganzen Welt erfahren will.