Pictures of the Night

"Pictures of the Night" was my favorite of the Egerton Hall series, probably because Bella, the heroine, is the most interesting of the three Egerton classmates. Snow White has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, so that might have helped a little, too, since that's the story being retold in this installment.

Believe it or not, there is love at first sight up in here, and it's the most obnoxious lovestruckness in all three books. It's a little understandable, I mean, AT LEAST half the time in fairy tales, the prince/white-knight hero is an unknown entity, but it's still irritating.

All three stories are neatly wrapped up in "Pictures of the Night," so it was a pretty satisfactory finale. Nothing unexpected, very predictable, but show more not in a bad way. DEFINITELY a series that is written for the age group it's advertised for -- I probably should have read these in fifth or sixth grade, although there is some sexuality in the series as a whole that my parents wouldn't have been down with. It's not explicit, but it is there: these are fairy tales, after all.

The writing is actually pretty good, Geras writes a compelling story and captures the feel of her boarding-school setting very well. Just don't go in expecting mind-blowing, standards-rearranging storytelling, and you'll be okay. show less

I just couldn't get into this book. Right from the start, it seemed like the author was trying to hide something from the reader and that annoyed me. Also, it contained too many long descriptions. Not my type of book.

This is the third book in a trilogy- I didn't read the first two, because what interested me about this one is that it is a retelling of Snow White. It is a retelling, and the elements are definitely there, but it is a story beyond being a retelling. I wasn't crazy about the story and the details weren't my style (Jazz, the 60s, and England), so it did take a long time to really catch me.

see http://www.sfsite.com/12b/eh214.htm