Charlie Martin

Greystone Valley tells the story of Sarah, who suddenly finds herself in a fairytale world full of magic and unusual creatures. She gets acquainted with a rather clumsy little wizard and discovers she has stumbled upon quite the adventure and actually has somewhat surprising abilities herself.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were what one expects from a children’s book: full of life, individuals very distinct from each other and all incredibly charming in their own way. The show more main character was easy to relate to and the chemistry between her and the other characters was brilliant. All dialogue was plausible and natural and the writing style altogether very nicely flowing and lovely to read. The ending was happy and left the reader with the nice possibility of a sequel hanging in the air without really leaving any unresolved issues lying about.

Personally I would’ve liked some more depth into the story and to read more descriptions of the magical world and it’s creatures and history. But considering the age group the book seems to be aimed at, I think it was perfect. This is a book I will most certainly read again and kindly recommend to fantasy loving children and adults alike. For those who have kids willing to sit down and listen to a good story, I think it would also make a great book to read aloud. show less

Greystone Valley, by Charlie Brooks, is a tween fantasy concerning Sarah, a 12-year-old girl who recently lost her father and who prefers to spend her time in her own children's fantasy world, where she stars as the Emerald Enchantress, a wizard who has wonderful adventures all the time. Imagine her surprise when, after hearing a midnight clock strike thirteen bells, she wakes up in a strange land - a land of incompetent boy wizards, 6-inch long dragons (who can still breathe a hefty show more fireball) and an evil warlord who wants to force the boy wizard to give up his enchanted spellbook so that the warlord can escape this strange valley and wreak havoc in larger lands. Sarah is nothing if not resourceful and meeting those individuals and the challenges they present is both simpler and far more complicated than she would have imagined, particularly as she seems to have a natural knack for magic herself.... This is not quite a YA novel, as the main characters are a bit younger than that, but neither is it strictly a children's novel; it's somewhere in-between. Sarah is feisty and sometimes irascible, boy magician Kay is bumbling but endearing, and Keeley the diminutive dragon is a terrific ally and companion; and the ending leaves things open-ended, room for the author to continue Sarah's adventures if she returns to Greystone Valley. I don't think this is destined to become a classic, but it is certainly a fun read. Recommended. show less

A cute kids' story, spoiled (at least for me) by rather too many continuity or logic errors. Things like - the book begins with Sarah telling herself a story of the Emerald Enchantress, and continues with two more. Then she encounters the legend of the Enchantress - and her comment is, I've heard of her somewhere. Nothing about the stories she tells herself, just "somewhere". Or when she meets the (only?) female dragon, and is very surprised that the dragon knows her name - and never notices show more that she knows the _dragon's_ name without being told. The story runs a bit conveniently, but not too badly - though I was very surprised that a girl who reads as much fantasy as Sarah is supposed to was as genre-blind about traveling to another world as she was. Ok, but not good - and I'm not interested in reading her next adventure. The more I think about the story, the more annoyed I get - for one thing, given the revelation at the end, just why is her mother so upset (to the point of sending her to therapy) about her reading fairy tales? Sheesh. And I didn't like the original Puddleglum, so Dax drives me nuts. One incompetent who's convinced he's wonderful, one very competent person who does his best to convince everyone around him that he's incompetent, and Sarah...who doesn't know what she knows. Bah. show less

The main character, Sarah, has lost her father and has isolated herself from her friends and family with fairy tales - until she gets trapped in a story and has to find her way back.

This was a quick read and a fun story for kids that reminded me of the fantasy books I read and the movies I watched when I was a child - The Labyrinth, The Never-ending Story, Willow, Narnia. The world feels more like the land of Once Upon a Time and isn't as developed as Narnia but it works because it carries show more the fairy tale theme through out the story.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review. show less