kailey_luminouslibro's Reviews (3.79k)

Very action packed. It's written like a movie. I like the characters and the plot is great! Very imaginative, and I can't wait to read the next one! I only give it three stars, b/c while I liked the story, the writing isn't amazing or anything. It's good writing, but not fabulous.

Not her best.

Newberry Award? Really? A very nice sort of book with some artistic flair, but hardly anything special.

This is one of his better books. It's clearly written and interesting at least. He seems to be more plot-oriented than character-oriented, and so most of the characters are rather one-dimensional and plain.

This is the best work by the this author that I have read so far! For one thing, his story line is a bit clearer in this book, and there are fewer characters to keep track of. The story is laid out more simply and is easier to understand,; not like some of his books that are so ambiguous you have no clue what is going on. He has wonderful original ideas in this one, and I love the magical Treasures and the unicorn. Malebron is too distant and mysterious to be real; he's really one-dimensional. But the rivalry and careful balance of power between the siblings is perfectly done. Their family relationships are exactly as things really are in a family.
I like this one!

Too preachy, but a good story.

I like so many of her other books, I was disappointed in this one. The dialogue is terribly repetitive, explaining the same things over and over. The plot is less fantastic than the first book and less interesting. The characters are still good though, although even new characters just seem to repeat the old characters from the first book. I had expected more originality.

This is definitely Eliot's masterpiece. It was hard for me to read b/c of similarities to my own life now, and I got stuck when Gwendolyn was married, but I muscled through and was happy to find such a good ending. There is, of course, too much analysis of every thought and action of the characters, and too much philosophy and moralizing, like in all Eliot's writing, but towards the end I didn't mind that so much.

My favorite bit is when Daniel tells Gwendolyn, 'Think of it as a preparation for your real life, as if some severe angel had seen you on the path of error, and grabbed you by the wrist to show you the horrible end of that path, in order to save you from it.' I'm paraphrasing there. Can't remember the exact quote at the moment.

I did not like Gwendolyn. She is a complex and interesting character, but she's so terribly selfish and bad. I liked Anna Gascoigne and Miss Arrowpoint better. Contrariwise, I didn't like Mirah either really. She's too bland, and too perfect to be real. I loved the Meyrick sisters and Hans! They are fun!