Starts out well but it seems about 2/3 of the way through the book the author must have gotten anxious that the book was getting too long, so he had the main character do a quick 180 degree reversal (plot holes be damned) and slapped together a quick ending which frankly doesn't do much to encourage me to read the sequel. ( )

http://keriansthoughts.blogspot.com/2... ( )

Solid fantasy ( )

a good book which gets started into the next 2 books. an amazing plot, characters, and overview. it may be a little boring in the beginning but an un-believable ending and books ahead of it. it all comes together in the end..... ( )

Alexa had me pinned by the collar until she returned to Bridewell after her foray into the forest. At this point, she was well-armed with crucial information, information she was instructed to tell no one. And how could she? The story she would have to tell in order to relay this information was too fantastical for adults to believe.

But she told them anyway and they believed her.

I suppose this may seem to some as a bonus, but I was horribly disappointed. I was ready to fight with Alexa, to follow her on her journey to save Bridewell with her trusty librarian sidekick and a chattering squirrel. Ah well.

Crumbling plot and character aside, Carmen knows his language and uses it fully. He relies on verbs to pop his writing instead of weighing the sentence down with unnecessary modifiers. Also, he does not write down to children. Thank you, Mr. Carmen.

Oh, and the book may look exquisitely bound, but it's just a bunch of faux deckle edged pages pasted to a hardcover. Disappointing.

Rating: 1 star for excellent writing, even if it couldn't keep the story afloat. Half a star for Alexa's HQ being the library. Half a star because I'm a sucker for talking squirrels. ( )

Alexa Daley, daughter of a father who is a very important person in all of the land of elyon, is taking Alexa to Bridewell for the summer. Alexa is determined to finally crack the secret that has been haunting her since the first time she has been in Bridewell. She finally finds a secret door in the library that leads to the outside world. It is there that she finds important animals that will guide her to greatness. ( )

Amazing story of daring, adventure and heroics. You could read this book again and again without ever getting tired of it. ( )

This little gem is by Patrick Carman. It's written to be a series and I didn't give it much hope. I figured, "standard, Scholastic mass-market crap", and yeah, it is for a wide audience. Carman said at the back of the book that this was a serial story he made up for his daughters. But, while the characters are somewhat stock, there was a twist that left me in the dust.
I won't say that I feel compelled to read any that come after this, but it was a great little adventure quest while it lasted.
Originally posted July 16, 2005

These are pretty good, about the Land of Elyon and a girl who's trying to save it. In this one she's trying to keep a city from being taken over and trying to get the walls surrounding it knocked down. ( )

I debated between 3 and 4 stars for this. The first part of the book is excellent – it’s the story of Alexa Daley who lives in a walled city and discovers a way out, where she learns to talk to animals. She also discovers the bad secret of the city. The second half moves to QUICKLY tie up all loose ends. Overall, a good fantasy read. ( )