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beastreader's review
5.0
Ok, this book may be geared towards the younger readers but I am still a kid at heart (So that counts right). I loved this book. The magical world that the author built was great. Instantly I like Albert did not want to leave. I was a little sad when the book was over. Which it seemed like I had barely just opened the book before the story ended. It was a very fast read. As I was reading this book I could not help but picture Harry Potter. While Albert is not a wizard, he is a great Balance Keeper. He and his two friends, Leroy and Birdie make a excellent team. Each one brings something different to the group. They are like Harry and his friends. I am excited to read the next book and see what additional powers that Albert possesses and if he and his friends can help protect Earth.
silea's review
4.0
Very Harry Potter-derived, but still a fun read after a slow start. Not sure if i'll continue with the series or not.
jbojkov's review
4.0
Good fantasy book with lots of action. Trio of two boys and a girl as the main characters of the book provide interest to both girls and boys. First in a series.
ktothelau's review against another edition
4.0
As a fan of Lindsay Cummings's young adult debut novel titled "The Murder Complex", I was eager to read the first installment to her middle-grade fantasy series The Balance Keepers.
On a job to send a letter to someone who not only lives in the middle of the woods, but under it as well, eleven year old Albert Flynn discovers that he is a balance keeper, a destined guardian of the three realms that lie in the earth's core. His job? If one of the realms were to fall out of balance, it is up to him and his teammates (cautious Leroy and spunky Birdie) to restore its balance by finding a special item in the unbalanced realm before the earth is destroyed. However, before they can go into the realms, they must harness their magical abilities that are given to them through special Tiles. Leroy has a super sharp memory, Birdie can breathe underwater, and Albert... well, no one is entirely sure what power his Tile gives him. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the realm of Calderon becomes more and more unstable. In fact, it seems that Albert, Birdie, and Leroy may have to enter Calderon before they're fully trained or can figure out what Albert's Tile does.
The Balance Keepers may remind some of "Harry Potter" or "Percy Jackson & the Olympians", but it is different enough to be its own original work. The concept is very imaginative, the world-building vivid, and the characters are very likeable. Keeping in mind that this is a book for eleven year olds, I still found to book very intriguing and, at times, very gripping. The action, much like Lindsay Cummings's debut novel, is very detailed but keeps a fast and gripping pace. I found myself to be like Albert in the story, not wanting to leave this world and dreading the time the book is completed. Fear not, though, because the ending is very satisfying.
My only complaint for this book is that I felt the story moved a bit too fast. I felt that there should have been chapters or scenes where Albert and his friends explored more of what the Core had to offer during their free time, but perhaps that is for the next two installments.
On a job to send a letter to someone who not only lives in the middle of the woods, but under it as well, eleven year old Albert Flynn discovers that he is a balance keeper, a destined guardian of the three realms that lie in the earth's core. His job? If one of the realms were to fall out of balance, it is up to him and his teammates (cautious Leroy and spunky Birdie) to restore its balance by finding a special item in the unbalanced realm before the earth is destroyed. However, before they can go into the realms, they must harness their magical abilities that are given to them through special Tiles. Leroy has a super sharp memory, Birdie can breathe underwater, and Albert... well, no one is entirely sure what power his Tile gives him. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the realm of Calderon becomes more and more unstable. In fact, it seems that Albert, Birdie, and Leroy may have to enter Calderon before they're fully trained or can figure out what Albert's Tile does.
The Balance Keepers may remind some of "Harry Potter" or "Percy Jackson & the Olympians", but it is different enough to be its own original work. The concept is very imaginative, the world-building vivid, and the characters are very likeable. Keeping in mind that this is a book for eleven year olds, I still found to book very intriguing and, at times, very gripping. The action, much like Lindsay Cummings's debut novel, is very detailed but keeps a fast and gripping pace. I found myself to be like Albert in the story, not wanting to leave this world and dreading the time the book is completed. Fear not, though, because the ending is very satisfying.
My only complaint for this book is that I felt the story moved a bit too fast. I felt that there should have been chapters or scenes where Albert and his friends explored more of what the Core had to offer during their free time, but perhaps that is for the next two installments.
the_fabric_of_words's review
5.0
This is a super-gentle fantasy series for younger readers, featuring an alternative world at the core of ours. We picked this up on a pre-COVID library shut down raid of the shelves.
One summer, 12-year-old Albert Flynn learns his father isn't just a postal worker in the isolated, desolate town of Herman, Wyoming.
A dog with strange, lantern eyes leads Albert away from the dead letter office, where he's supposed to be working but he's just making tunnels under the piles of dead letters. They barrel into the forest and he finds the portal to The Core, where magic and strange creatures reign supreme, not magma -- that's just a convenient cover to keep nosy scientists out -- and learns his father is a respected Professor.
Albert and two other new recruits dive for a Tile that will grant them special magic, but the Tile Albert's drawn to isn't in the books and it doesn't appear to do anything -- not at first.
Then a strange force threatens New York City, where Albert's mom and half-siblings live, and it's caused by an imbalance in the Core realm of Calderon.
Albert, Birdie and Leroy battle another team of recruits for the right to enter Calderon and right the imbalance. They must prove they have mastered their Tiles -- and that's when Albert learns what his Master Tile can do for him.
They'll face strange creatures, impossible situations and need to come together as a team to right the imbalance and save NYC.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade and young adult book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: http://amb.mystrikingly.com/
One summer, 12-year-old Albert Flynn learns his father isn't just a postal worker in the isolated, desolate town of Herman, Wyoming.
A dog with strange, lantern eyes leads Albert away from the dead letter office, where he's supposed to be working but he's just making tunnels under the piles of dead letters. They barrel into the forest and he finds the portal to The Core, where magic and strange creatures reign supreme, not magma -- that's just a convenient cover to keep nosy scientists out -- and learns his father is a respected Professor.
Albert and two other new recruits dive for a Tile that will grant them special magic, but the Tile Albert's drawn to isn't in the books and it doesn't appear to do anything -- not at first.
Then a strange force threatens New York City, where Albert's mom and half-siblings live, and it's caused by an imbalance in the Core realm of Calderon.
Albert, Birdie and Leroy battle another team of recruits for the right to enter Calderon and right the imbalance. They must prove they have mastered their Tiles -- and that's when Albert learns what his Master Tile can do for him.
They'll face strange creatures, impossible situations and need to come together as a team to right the imbalance and save NYC.
Visit my blog for more great middle grade and young adult book recommendations, free teaching materials and fiction writing tips: http://amb.mystrikingly.com/
islandgeekgirl's review
4.0
Eleven-year-old Albert Flynn is supposed to be spending his summer helping at the small town post office but when he finds a letter from his father asking him to make a delivery. This delivery leads him to the Core, where he learns that he's a Balance Keeper. He and his two teammates, Birdie and Leroy, will be training and competing to help keep the Realms of the Core in balance and keep the world above safe. They quickly learn that there's an imbalance in the Calderon Realm that's affecting New York City and the balance needs to be restored before it's too late.
The was a really fun book to read. There was a lot of action, interesting characters, and a world that seemed like it would be both fun and terrifying to live there. The first book in a new middle grade series, it definitely delivered.
I don't read a lot of middle grade novels but this one had elements that reminded me of the ones that I did enjoy, in a way that didn't come off as 'I've read this before'. It had the complex world-building without being overly complicated for the age group, it had very interesting mythology which led to some pretty amazing creatures, and it had great characters.
I loved the dynamic created between Albert, Leroy, and Birdie. They were so much fun and they acted like kids, brave kids but still kids. The book was told in Albert's POV and it was great to see the growth he showed from a lonely boy in our world to being a brave Balance Keeper. It was a believable growth, as in he wasn't just suddenly an amazing competitor. It took time and practice for all three kids.
The training and competitions against other Balance Keepers teams seemed like it would be fun if you didn't think about the truth behind it. It was intense training for a dangerous job that could get them injured or killed. But they were still fun to read.
After getting to see the Core and Calderon, I can't wait to see the other two Realms.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The was a really fun book to read. There was a lot of action, interesting characters, and a world that seemed like it would be both fun and terrifying to live there. The first book in a new middle grade series, it definitely delivered.
I don't read a lot of middle grade novels but this one had elements that reminded me of the ones that I did enjoy, in a way that didn't come off as 'I've read this before'. It had the complex world-building without being overly complicated for the age group, it had very interesting mythology which led to some pretty amazing creatures, and it had great characters.
I loved the dynamic created between Albert, Leroy, and Birdie. They were so much fun and they acted like kids, brave kids but still kids. The book was told in Albert's POV and it was great to see the growth he showed from a lonely boy in our world to being a brave Balance Keeper. It was a believable growth, as in he wasn't just suddenly an amazing competitor. It took time and practice for all three kids.
The training and competitions against other Balance Keepers teams seemed like it would be fun if you didn't think about the truth behind it. It was intense training for a dangerous job that could get them injured or killed. But they were still fun to read.
After getting to see the Core and Calderon, I can't wait to see the other two Realms.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
brianwork's review
3.0
This is a fun fantasy adventure for younger readers, with some nice humor mixed in throughout. Thinking back to myself as a child, I feel like I would have enjoyed this book when I was in 4th-6th grade.
Even for a middle grades series, the protagonist's age was on the young side. I think if Albert's age had been bumped up to 13 or 14, it would have worked a little better both in terms of believability and appeal. Even with the usual suspension of disbelief, the non-magical things Albert & his friends did, along with the way they spoke, just didn't feel true to 11 year olds; a couple extra years would have still been a stretch, but it would have helped. The other issue with making Albert an 11 year old is it makes the book lose some appeal to kids on the older end of the middle grades range who don't want to read about characters a few years younger than them, as well as crossover appeal to the YA audience.
A few other things struck me as odd, such as how in the several centuries that the Core has been around NOBODY realized that something as seemingly vital as "practicing" was allowed, or the reasoning for putting 11 year olds in immediate danger ("it's kinda tough on adults" and "kids still want adventure" just make the adults seem irresponsible & like they're fans of child endangerment.) I wish some of the characters had more depth to them; Hoyt, for instance, was particularly annoying as the bully who's a bully just to be a bully because, come on, he's the bully.
Overall, though, it's a pretty decent middle grades fantasy book. It's got its flaws, but a lot of kids will look past them for the fun of an underground adventure.
Even for a middle grades series, the protagonist's age was on the young side. I think if Albert's age had been bumped up to 13 or 14, it would have worked a little better both in terms of believability and appeal. Even with the usual suspension of disbelief, the non-magical things Albert & his friends did, along with the way they spoke, just didn't feel true to 11 year olds; a couple extra years would have still been a stretch, but it would have helped. The other issue with making Albert an 11 year old is it makes the book lose some appeal to kids on the older end of the middle grades range who don't want to read about characters a few years younger than them, as well as crossover appeal to the YA audience.
A few other things struck me as odd, such as how in the several centuries that the Core has been around NOBODY realized that something as seemingly vital as "practicing" was allowed, or the reasoning for putting 11 year olds in immediate danger ("it's kinda tough on adults" and "kids still want adventure" just make the adults seem irresponsible & like they're fans of child endangerment.) I wish some of the characters had more depth to them; Hoyt, for instance, was particularly annoying as the bully who's a bully just to be a bully because, come on, he's the bully.
Overall, though, it's a pretty decent middle grades fantasy book. It's got its flaws, but a lot of kids will look past them for the fun of an underground adventure.
mantovi's review
3.0
Another book with a great premise that did not fully deliver. The characters fail to stand out even though they clearly have the potential to do so and around the middle the plot becomes way too predictable. It's certainly a great and fun book for MG readers but it lacks a bit of soul.
chelseyreadsbooks's review
3.0
My 8 year old flew through the series and i wanted to see what he liked about it. It isn’t on par with Harry Potter in terms of writing quality, but it’s definitely a page turner that is written to appeal to the middle grade audience. Not surprised that he liked it!
godacre98's review against another edition
5.0
This was SO good!
A fun middle grade fantasy trilogy debut!
There was never a dull moment and I loved the characters and the unique underground world that Lindsay created... A must read for fans of The Magisterium series and/or The Percy Jackson and The Olympians series.
Can’t wait to start on book #2 and see what Albert, Birdie and Leroy get up to, next!
Highly recommended!
A fun middle grade fantasy trilogy debut!
There was never a dull moment and I loved the characters and the unique underground world that Lindsay created... A must read for fans of The Magisterium series and/or The Percy Jackson and The Olympians series.
Can’t wait to start on book #2 and see what Albert, Birdie and Leroy get up to, next!
Highly recommended!