asma_aj's review against another edition
3.0
What started out as a normal day job for plumber's son Ark turns deadly when he overhears a plot that could destroy his tree home, Arborium. Now he's on the run in the hopes of warning his king, and he can't trust anyone. But as his journey leads him closer to the mysteries of the woods, Ark realizes there are powerful ancient forces beyond his imagination that could either unite his home, or destroy it.
I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this, especially after I skimmed over some Goodreads reviews. I was sure I wasn't going to like it, but I was surprised that I did (for the most part, at least).
To read the rest of the review, please visit A Reading Kabocha @ http://areadingkabocha.blogspot.com
I have to admit, at first I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this, especially after I skimmed over some Goodreads reviews. I was sure I wasn't going to like it, but I was surprised that I did (for the most part, at least).
To read the rest of the review, please visit A Reading Kabocha @ http://areadingkabocha.blogspot.com
guinevere_s1994's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
socr8sjohnson's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this one. The worldbuilding was really neat. Some have criticized it for not explaining the world, but the author slowly releases that information throughout the novel. By the end, you get the whole picture and it makes sense. Nice little message wrapped up in there for us too as far as the world-building goes.
It was funny in parts and it was a completely unique fantasy world, not much like any I had seen before so mad props for that.
It was funny in parts and it was a completely unique fantasy world, not much like any I had seen before so mad props for that.
blairreads3's review against another edition
1.0
I liked the synopsis on the back (pretty generic but no problem, I'm here for it). The cover was meh and the plot had potential (I guess).
Not looking too bad, right? Well for me the writing completely ruined it. Yes, I read the whole thing but it was straight up painful. The plot doesn't seem too bad on paper, but somehow it was written so that it dragged on for too long and then spent not enough time at other places. I also didn't feel like there was any tension at all because of the pacing issues and the fact that I was constantly taken out of the story by messy dialogue, weird half science / magic and the general writing.
To be fair I am not the target audience, but I'm also not too far away from the age group that is supposed to enjoy this book (and at 13 I would not have liked it either) and other middle grade books I read I enjoyed.
The dialog was messy in the way that a lot of times characters would just talk around each other or it just wouldn't make sense. But what irritated me the most was the way the author wanted to write from a lot of perspectives at the same time. One Minute it would be our Protagonist fighting a soldier and then we would get two lines during the fight where the soldier thinks about himself or justifies his actions.
I like third person narration usually a lot more than first person, but you either give your characters each a chapter from their point of view or have an all knowing narrator that can tell the reader about things the protagonist doesn't know. Here it was just a very confusing mish-mash that didn't add anything.
Another aspect I really hated was the way things were wackily half explained, but in the stupidest way possible. The science in this book was also half treated like magic and half as science. For example I think the tree seeds when planted were special, so they made the trees so large. And when Birds ate them they also became super large and a lot deadlier?! Generally in this one specific area everything is larger (because they all ate tree seeds? because of the power of the raven goddess that is supposed to be a normal woman, but can talk to animals?)
At some point it is all "explained" and supposedly the earth became totally polluted and land prices rose so extreme that all trees were cut down. But a scientist hid some (special) tree seeds and then discovered an unknown island, faked her death and planted the trees. Then she slept for a thousand years or so and somewhere around then or a little earlier a boat of refugees arrived and then they started living in the trees. That makes total sense, right? Oh, and I forgot that the trees have started to emit a gas that is toxic to outsiders (they get it from gas reserves in the ground), but of course not to the refugees?! It is also never really explained how everything is supposed to be organized, because the society lives on top of the trees or somewhere around the top, but they also have fields and a plumbing system and a whole palace and cities. And they ride horses and use swords.
You might think, but what about the characters? Compelling characters surely made the book much better and since the author tried to write so much from different perspectives surely we know a lot about these complex characters, right?
Well you are partially true. The characters are fine and not completely unlikeable, but very stupid and more one dimensional and cliché than you would think. We have protagonist #1 who is insanely stupid (this dude thinks: I was just almost killed because I was discovered eavesdropping, where should I go to hide? Yes, home seems totally reasonable, because surely they won't check there, even though they know who I am and where I live), but don't worry he gets away with it because the goons of one of the bad guys are literally dumb and dumber and get tricked by him (multiple times witz the same trick). Protagonist #1 is heavily hinted to be the chosen one and discovers that in this book. Then there is his colleague turned best friend that is dumb, but strong and kind of lovable.
We also have Protagonist #2 who is one of the bad guys son and supposed to be the antagonist of Protagonist #1. He is very edgy and is all the time like:"I am sooo badass" and I guess that's what the author wants us to think too (?!)
He behaves like a little psychopath and doesn't care about anyone (except for Protagonist #1, bc he hates him and the evil mastermind who could be his mom). I really found it weird she was all like "yes, you are so cool. You are a lot better than your father and you are soo smart". He probably had mommy issues?
The ages of the people were very weird too, because the protagonists are both 14, but protagonist refers to another character in the book that can't be younger than 11 or 12 as Boy. Both protagonists are in professions you wouldn't even expect 18 year Olds to be in. One is a full time plumber (and there are waaay too many shit-related jokes in this book) and the other is a surgery student.
The fight scenes in the end might be a little too graphic for some young children (one protagonist cuts off his arm... ).
I am just glad this book is over and I will never read something by this author again. I've read a lot of terrible fanfiction better than this and my fourteen year old brother could probably write something better than this in an instant.
(I don't really want to attack anyone or offend anyone, because this is after all just my opinion, but if you enjoyed this book and are over fifteen I don't think we would get along)
Not looking too bad, right? Well for me the writing completely ruined it. Yes, I read the whole thing but it was straight up painful. The plot doesn't seem too bad on paper, but somehow it was written so that it dragged on for too long and then spent not enough time at other places. I also didn't feel like there was any tension at all because of the pacing issues and the fact that I was constantly taken out of the story by messy dialogue, weird half science / magic and the general writing.
To be fair I am not the target audience, but I'm also not too far away from the age group that is supposed to enjoy this book (and at 13 I would not have liked it either) and other middle grade books I read I enjoyed.
The dialog was messy in the way that a lot of times characters would just talk around each other or it just wouldn't make sense. But what irritated me the most was the way the author wanted to write from a lot of perspectives at the same time. One Minute it would be our Protagonist fighting a soldier and then we would get two lines during the fight where the soldier thinks about himself or justifies his actions.
I like third person narration usually a lot more than first person, but you either give your characters each a chapter from their point of view or have an all knowing narrator that can tell the reader about things the protagonist doesn't know. Here it was just a very confusing mish-mash that didn't add anything.
Another aspect I really hated was the way things were wackily half explained, but in the stupidest way possible. The science in this book was also half treated like magic and half as science. For example I think the tree seeds when planted were special, so they made the trees so large. And when Birds ate them they also became super large and a lot deadlier?! Generally in this one specific area everything is larger (because they all ate tree seeds? because of the power of the raven goddess that is supposed to be a normal woman, but can talk to animals?)
At some point it is all "explained" and supposedly the earth became totally polluted and land prices rose so extreme that all trees were cut down. But a scientist hid some (special) tree seeds and then discovered an unknown island, faked her death and planted the trees. Then she slept for a thousand years or so and somewhere around then or a little earlier a boat of refugees arrived and then they started living in the trees. That makes total sense, right? Oh, and I forgot that the trees have started to emit a gas that is toxic to outsiders (they get it from gas reserves in the ground), but of course not to the refugees?! It is also never really explained how everything is supposed to be organized, because the society lives on top of the trees or somewhere around the top, but they also have fields and a plumbing system and a whole palace and cities. And they ride horses and use swords.
You might think, but what about the characters? Compelling characters surely made the book much better and since the author tried to write so much from different perspectives surely we know a lot about these complex characters, right?
Well you are partially true. The characters are fine and not completely unlikeable, but very stupid and more one dimensional and cliché than you would think. We have protagonist #1 who is insanely stupid (this dude thinks: I was just almost killed because I was discovered eavesdropping, where should I go to hide? Yes, home seems totally reasonable, because surely they won't check there, even though they know who I am and where I live), but don't worry he gets away with it because the goons of one of the bad guys are literally dumb and dumber and get tricked by him (multiple times witz the same trick). Protagonist #1 is heavily hinted to be the chosen one and discovers that in this book. Then there is his colleague turned best friend that is dumb, but strong and kind of lovable.
We also have Protagonist #2 who is one of the bad guys son and supposed to be the antagonist of Protagonist #1. He is very edgy and is all the time like:"I am sooo badass" and I guess that's what the author wants us to think too (?!)
He behaves like a little psychopath and doesn't care about anyone (except for Protagonist #1, bc he hates him and the evil mastermind who could be his mom). I really found it weird she was all like "yes, you are so cool. You are a lot better than your father and you are soo smart". He probably had mommy issues?
The ages of the people were very weird too, because the protagonists are both 14, but protagonist refers to another character in the book that can't be younger than 11 or 12 as Boy. Both protagonists are in professions you wouldn't even expect 18 year Olds to be in. One is a full time plumber (and there are waaay too many shit-related jokes in this book) and the other is a surgery student.
The fight scenes in the end might be a little too graphic for some young children (one protagonist cuts off his arm... ).
I am just glad this book is over and I will never read something by this author again. I've read a lot of terrible fanfiction better than this and my fourteen year old brother could probably write something better than this in an instant.
(I don't really want to attack anyone or offend anyone, because this is after all just my opinion, but if you enjoyed this book and are over fifteen I don't think we would get along)
daniella84's review against another edition
3.0
100% guarantee the only reason this book was written was to make as many tree based puns and reference to sewage as possible such as treenager, be-leaf and Barkingham Palace. Also appreciated greatly that the head raven flew into a helicopter's blades in order to save the other ravens and stop the assassination of the King.
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