Armstrong's thesis is that religion is not the cause of the world's violence now and throughout history, because up until the American and French revolutions there was no such thing as a secular society. She goes to painstaking lengths to discuss in detail the histories of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism, the list goes on -- and how it is not religion, but humanity and society and political motivations that are the true causes of war and hatred and terrorism. It is a fascinating study of history and religion and I learned so many incredible facts about history without feeling like I was reading a textbook. The book is very long, but it has to be to cover so much ground, and Armstrong does a great job of backing up her statements with facts and keeping the tone neutral. It was fascinating to see how religion was interwoven into the public lifestyles of people for millennia.

I hated everything about this book. Even the fact that it included mermaids. Surely not, I can hear you saying. You adore mermaids.

This is true. But even that could not rise my opinion of this book to anything above pure contempt.

So Lily, who has been relatively stable for two books (other than the fact that she is dating a literal murderer and has never once discussed this with said murderer/boyfriend as if pretending it didn't happen makes him psychologically sound) starts wearing a magic necklace that gives her scary dreams that cause murderer/boyfriend to say "hmm perhaps this is not safe" and she says NO! NOT ONLY IS THIS THE BEST IDEA EVER, I AM ALSO BREAKING UP WITH YOU BECAUSE I CAN'T THINK OF ANY WAY TO GET YOU TO GO FIND YOUR BIRTH PARENTS, DESPITE THE FACT THAT I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO AND YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR BIRTH PARENTS, BUT ANNE GREENWOOD BROWN HAS NO IDEAS SO THIS IS THE WHOLE PLOT OF THE NOVEL NOW GO FORTH AND BE MISERABLE WITH A CREEPY DEATHWISH CANADIAN GIRL AND DON'T TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU MAKE OUT WITH HER AND WHILE YOU ARE GONE I WILL TRY NOT TO KILL MY MOTHER JUST KIDDING I AM GOING TO DEFINITELY TRY TO KILL MY OWN MOTHER"

Also something about a mermaid baby and families are terrible unless you are Calder White and then you MUST FIND YOUR BIRTH PARENTS because apparently adopted children are not allowed to be happy in their adopted homes in young adult novels. Even ones about murderous mermaids.

Would recommend to masochists who cannot dnf mermaid novels.

Will's brother died a year ago, and now that it's summer Will is back to spending his days helping his parents at their organic food stand where the "summer people" (people Will hates, on almost every other page, simply for having money and for being "clean," a word used as an insult so often I thought that this was set in the dark ages) buy said food and baked goods and spending his nights mooning over Gretchen, the "summer person" who he is allowed to like because she doesn't act stuck up, and Asia, the Edward-Cullen style outsider and obvious mythical creature. What follows is a mismatched tale that switches from moody summer romance cliche to old-school horror back to clueless teenager-land and doesn't do any of them well. All of the dialogue seems stilted, and when Will makes fun of the ageless Asia for speaking in an old-fashioned way I genuinely didn't notice because they all speak like old people and despite the single mention of Facebook, no one uses their phones as often as actual people in 2011. There are too many storylines branching all over, none of which go anywhere, and it took way too long to get to the big reveal of what the creatures are and ended in a very disappointing showdown.

I am so impossibly disappointed in this book. Aladdin is second only to the Little Mermaid for my favorite Disney movies, and I was so excited to have the chance to read this re-telling. The premise is that Jafar got the lamp when Aladdin escaped from the cave and the book is about how Aladdin and Jasmine have to save the day.

And it was terrible.

The first 20% or so is just a re-telling of the movie. The only thing that has changed is that you meet Aladdin's mother, but she dies with no explanation, and there is no additional character development or world building that didn't already exist in the movie.

The rest of the book feels like a first draft. It lacks cohesion from scene to scene and the narrative is sloppy. There is not a single conversation that feels organic, and everyone speaks with the same mannerisms: an uneducated street rat uses the word "largesse" in casual conversation, for example, and at the end of the book when Jafar has Jasmine captive after she has fled him and destroyed the city and told him she will never love him, he merely responds "Your honest discourse is refreshing, even if its content is not appealing."

Cannot in good conscience recommend to even the most die-hard Disney fan.

The art is frustratingly unrealistic (a horse in a ferris wheel seat, for example) without any charm to make it endearing. I also hate books that reward bad behavior.