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monski's review against another edition
4.0
i first read this book when i was 9, and i remember thoroughly enjoying it and idolising the characters because of their bravery. at 16, i have decided to take up reading again and thought this might be a fun story to begin with. it was quite a nice read, though being predictable and slightly repetitive in its imagery. i understand this is not really a book aimed at my age however, and i do consider this a wonderful series of novels for children aged 8-13 that are interested in fantasy. it has many integral fantasy elements for children to enjoy, for example, castle settings, dark forests, unicorns and other beasts, magic and prophecies.
kkaste's review against another edition
4.0
This was a sweet middle grade fantasy. Four friends unite on a quest to save the kingdom. The castle called Wolfhaven is taken over by invaders. Eleanor, Sebastian, Tom, and Quinn are the only hope for the kingdom. I enjoyed the writing and characters. It was fast paced and a wonderful first adventure. I will be reading more in the future.
stefhyena's review against another edition
3.0
I've been meaning to read this for ages and it was fun! Even though it was fantasy it called to ming Enid Blyton's Famour Five more than anything else, adventures with a lot of descriptions of food, being locked in places (the trick for getting out of a locked room was very Blyton), suspenseful hiding from bad-guys and unlike Blyton a touch of darkness remained when the cavalry did not come to deliver them (but there was an awesome ally).
Beautiful things included the urchin in a black velvet dress (just why?) and the similarly dark (and richly described....oooooh I want to say what the critter was but I suppose that is a spoiler!) I enjoyed the football match (not called that) between squires and servants and the class based critique there that I thought would develop...but all it develops into (so far) is fairly stereotypical conflict between Sebastian and Tom. Similarly some of the gender criticisms hold promise but seem maybe simplified and it will be interesting to see if they get developed at all (oh yes both my son and I are reading on into the next book!) No romance so far (GOOD) and reasonably complex friendship between Tom and Quin with some class and gender based bickering (believable and not too heavy) between the others.
I think I will continue enjoying myself. Whether I will end up thinking this is more than just good, well...I am prepared to find out!
It's the first book in a series. I wouldn't recommend it as a stand-alone (maybe as a read to see if you like)
Beautiful things included the urchin in a black velvet dress (just why?) and the similarly dark (and richly described....oooooh I want to say what the critter was but I suppose that is a spoiler!) I enjoyed the football match (not called that) between squires and servants and the class based critique there that I thought would develop...but all it develops into (so far) is fairly stereotypical conflict between Sebastian and Tom. Similarly some of the gender criticisms hold promise but seem maybe simplified and it will be interesting to see if they get developed at all (oh yes both my son and I are reading on into the next book!) No romance so far (GOOD) and reasonably complex friendship between Tom and Quin with some class and gender based bickering (believable and not too heavy) between the others.
I think I will continue enjoying myself. Whether I will end up thinking this is more than just good, well...I am prepared to find out!
It's the first book in a series. I wouldn't recommend it as a stand-alone (maybe as a read to see if you like)
allisonbsk's review against another edition
2.0
This was a quick read aloud for my ten year old and it grew on us, but we just weren't enthralled. It wasn't really written that well, it was predictable, and really not a whole lot happened. We weren't even sure why it was titled such (this really bugged us, strangely enough), because it had not much to do with escaping the castle (that part was actually rather easy). I didn't really understand why the castle was under siege in the first place either- we needed much more development in that regard. The book just sort of ended all of a sudden, too. This suited us fine. We can move on now.
thebookmuse's review against another edition
5.0
a fabulous start to the series! Looking forward to reading the rest, and my full review will be up on my blog.