The Spindlers (edition 2012)

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: Very cute middle-grade fantasy with a fun story, good adventure and interesting characters.

Opening Sentence: One night when Liza went to bed, Patrick was her chubby, stubby, candy-grubbing and pancake- loving younger brother, who irritated her and amused her both, and the next morning, when she woke up, he was not.

The Review:

Liza loves her younger brother Patrick even though most of the time he is a pain. He is her playmate and best friend. One morning they wake up and Patrick is different. He isn’t his usual annoying self and right away Liza knows that something is wrong. Before their long time babysitter Anna went off to college she told Liza about the evil Spindlers and how they can steal your soul. She instantly knows this is what happened to Patrick. Liza tries to inform her parents but of course they don’t believe her, so it is up to her to try and save Patrick before it is too late, and the Spindlers eat his soul.

Liza has to travel to the Below. She sets on her journey and finds a door in her basement that leads to the wondrous Below. She soon befriends a giant fashionable rat named Mirabella who agrees to help guide her to the Spindlers. As they travel through the Below they meet many different and interesting creatures along the way. She has some close encounters, and at times she doubts that she will even make it to the nest to rescue Patrick. With wit and a little luck she finally makes it to the nest, but once there she has to face the evil Spindlers Queen. She only has one shot to save Patrick and herself from staying with the Spindlers forever.

I thought that Liza was a cute character. She really loves her little brother even though he can be a pain, and she is willing to risk her life to save him. There were times when she did irritate me a little, but to be honest I think it was just because she was so young. This book is defiantly set for a younger audience and while I don’t mind reading these I tend to not connect with the characters quite as much. That being said I think that a younger crowd will love Liza and connect with her much better than I did.

Overall, I thought that this book was a fun read. The adventure was really fun, the worldbuilding was fascinating, and it was a really fast read. I have always loved Lauren Oliver’s writing and this book is no exception, she really did a wonderful job. Oliver is very descriptive in her writing and I loved the world she created. The plot flowed really well and while it was predictable it was also really fun. I would highly recommend this to anyone that likes MG Fantasy, especially the age group it was written for. I think this book would be a wonderful introduction into the world of reading for younger children.

Notable Scene:

The nids filed into the stone seats that encircled the court, buzzing and chattering excitedly. Almost as soon as the nids were seated, the mole cried out, “All arise for the Honorable Judge Gobbington IV!” Instantly there was a general shuffling and rustling, and murmurs of excitement, as the nids climbed to their feet.

Liza stood along with everybody else. Mirabella was practically white with fear, and Liza’s throat was dry and chalky, as though she had inhaled sawdust.

She heard a scuffling sound, the noise of slapping footsteps along the dark, dank hall through which the mole had led them, then a dry, rattling cough. Finally the judge stepped into the amphitheater.

At least, Liza thought he must be the judge. He certainly looked wise. Although he was probably no taller than she, his head was at least four times the size of hers and incredibly wrinkled, like an enormous, shriveled pea. His face, in contrast, seemed ridiculously small: just a bare twig of a nose, and two squinty eyes, and a pinched mouth floating in the middle of that humongous head. Liza felt the wild urge to laugh, as she did sometimes when she got very nervous, and fought desperately to quell it.

Judge Gobbington IV had a large gavel tucked under one arm. He was wearing thick glasses and an elaborate black gown that reached almost all the way to the ground. His bare feet protruded from underneath its hem, however, and Liza saw that they were large and slightly webbed, like a duck’s. When he walked, his feet made a wet, slapping sound against the stone.

FTC Advisory: HarperCollins provided me with a copy of The Spindlers. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

the fun adventure book lifted me up and under ground with Liza. If you want a fun scary eire familylike book read THE SPINDLERS ( )

Grades 4-7: a pleasant fantasy story, but nowhere near as engaging and graceful as Oliver's [b:Liesl and Po|10425811|Liesl and Po|Lauren Oliver|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298937848s/10425811.jpg|14615333]. When Liza realizes that her brother has been switched with an imposter, she knows immediately what has happened. Her babysitter used to tell her and Patrick about the spindlers, spider-like creatures that can steal your soul. When Liza cannot convince her parents that the Patrick-imposter is not her real brother, she decides that she will search out the spindlers herself and get her real brother back. So begins her adventure Below, where she quickly meets Mirabella, an oversized rat partial to lipstick and wigs and fancy hats. Mirabella is the most interesting character in the story and unfortunately, the second half of tale is overly busy and melodramatic. Oliver is such a gifted writer that this "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach is disconcerting. ( )

When Liza's brother's soul is stolen by the Spindlers, evil spider-like creatures who live Below, Liza knows that she is the only one who can save him. Armed with only a broom, she crawls through a hole in her basement wall and finds herself in an underground world populated by various magical creatures. She is immediately befriended by Mirabella, a rat who is trying desperately to look human, and who promises to lead her to the Spindlers' lair. Liza must face many dangers in order to rescue her brother's soul and escape back to her own world.

This book is fairly strong on writing, but rather weak in plot and creativity. There are just a lot of juvenile fantasy books out there about the quest to save a missing/stolen/trapped sibling, and a book has to be truly unique to rise above the herd. This one will be enjoyable enough for young readers, with their fresh outlook and ravenous appetite for anything in the genres they enjoy, but it left me feeling like a jaded grown-up reader who needs to take a little break from this type of story before trying again. ( )

Lauren Oliver debuted in 2010 with Before I Fall, and The Spindlers is her fifth published work, not counting novellas. Her sixth, Requiem, the conclusion to the Delirium trilogy comes out early next year. Simply put, she has blasted into popularity, prolific and talented, to become one of the most loved and admired YA/MG authors. Of the three books of hers I've read, The Spindlers was my least favorite, but still contained some of the wonderful bits that make Oliver's work such a joy to devour.

In The Spindlers, Lauren Oliver tackles a pretty standard fairy tale plot: the child whose sibling has been replaced with a changeling and the resulting quest bent on rescue. Liza wakes up to find her brother not himself. He looks the same and he has a lot of the same behaviors, but he is both too nice (perfect table manners and politeness) and too mean (spelling out 'I HATE YOU' to his sister in his alphabet cereal). Liza immediately knows what has happened to him: the Spindlers, spider creatures, have taken his soul, and, should it not be replaced soon, the shell of his body will turn into dust.

As is common in middle grade books, only Liza can save her brother from this tragic fate. Her parents refuse to believe her assertions that something is wrong with Patrick and tell her to grow up, now too old for stories. Unwilling to allow her brother to die, Liza determines to go look for him herself, so she goes down to the basement and into the crawl space. Once there, she falls into a deep hole.

It turns out the crawl space in her house connects to the Below, a world populated by the magical creatures her favorite babysitter, Anna, always told her about. She immediately gains a companion in the form of Mirabella, a rat who imitates humans. Mirabella also happens to be in possession of a number of articles stolen from her family. I'm glad to know that all of the things I can't find were not in fact lost through my carelessness but swiped by troglods.

Mirabella creeps me out a lot. Now, it's not because she's a rat. I know rats can be alright. One of my best friends in college had three rats senior year, and they were friendly creatures. Mirabella, though, sounds every kind of unpleasant. For one thing, she's person-sized. She wears clothing and a matted wig. She smells like a sewer, but covers her face in powder and mascara in an attempt to meet human standards of beauty. Basically, she will probably haunt the dreams of some. Call me vain, but I could not get past my immense distaste for Mirabella.

Liza's journey reminded me of any number of books. There was little I found especially original about this tale, except for the nocturni, which were really cool. Otherwise, the monsters, while new to me in name, fit classic molds. Still, I suspect the array of creatures will delight and terrify younger readers as they are intended to do. What Lauren Oliver brings to the story is her way with words. She has a glorious way of writing, one that I think will hold a lot of appeal for children, who also often like stories to follow familiar paths more than I do.

For fans of books like Gregor the Overlander or Coraline, The Spindlers will be a delight.

Read more of my reviews at A Reader of Fictions. ( )