Reviews

Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson

mybooksarenovel's review against another edition

4.0

This was a pretty fun and kind of eerie portal fantasy! The storyline was a quest to find an object before time runs out. It drew heavy inspiration from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and also nods to The Wizard of Oz, Narnia, the Labrynth, and other classic portal fantasies which give a feeling of nostalgia. It also contained lots of pop culture references to books and music, if you like that kind of thing.

The Criticism.
- The quest gets a little boring/uninteresting about halfway through. I find this can be pretty typical of quests, and even Tolkien fell victim to this pitfall.
- The characters were very underdeveloped. I would have liked to have motivations and behaviors better fleshed out.
- There was very little tension around romance and conflict, and so a lot of things resolved easily and conveniently.
- Certain points of conflict were a bit strange. I'm thinking of very specific things, but don't want to spoil.

Despite my criticisms, I really liked this story. The atmosphere was simultaneously creepy and whimsical. The romance was charmingly sweet, with that very new quality. I would heavily recommend this to young teens, and find that this would work well as a middle grade to YA crossover.

Content is squeaky clean. Kissing, plotting violence, I don't recall any profanity.

amorales107's review

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

geeoriginal's review

2.5

I wanted to like this book, but I could never really get into it. I felt the two leads were cute, but it wasn't enough to carry the story for me. 

abbylriley's review

lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

jcamplaw09's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sarahisemotional's review

adventurous relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

Writing was very simple but it a was nice book. The idea of the hotel is nice but I would’ve loved to see more being done with it! It’s basically Luigi’s Mansion 3 as a self insert

wheelerdavid44's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a fun story about magic and ghosts.  Delilah S. Dawson can do no wrong.

surupamc's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was an ok little read. Definitely for younger readers. A little mystery and a little fantasy. Characters are a bit weak. Plot line was not bad. Finished it feeling kind of underwhelmed, but didn’t hate it. 

book_add1ct's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

hrmason's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.0