missprint_'s review against another edition
1.0
Fourteen-year-old Freddy just wants to be normal. She wants to blend in at her high school and disappear. But that's hard when her step-brother Roland is always telling outlandish stories and leaves a trail of chaos in his wake despite his best efforts. Meanwhile her little sister Mel is like an amateur detective.
Freddy's mother and step-father are so wrapped up in each other they hardly notice. And it's not like they can force Freddy to like her siblings anymore than they can force her to learn sign language so she can talk more with Roland.
It becomes even harder to pretend everything is normal when new tenants move into the house on Grosvenor Street--hardly a surprise since the house always seems to be in a state of flux.
Cuerva Lachance and Josiah aren't like any of the people who have previously rented the house on Grosvenor street. In fact, based on the way the house begins to defy the laws of physics, they may not even be people in Weave a Circle Round (2017) Kari Maaren.
Maaren's debut standalone is an intentionally chaotic and frenetic novel about time travel, family, and the power of story and talismans. Maaren pulls intricate plot threads together to create a story with eclectic characters and detailed world building.
Because of Freddy's age and the overall tone of the novel, Weave a Circle Round feels much younger than marketing would suggest--something not helped by flat and often one-dimensional characters. I'd put this book much more firmly in the middle grade category than YA were it left to my own devices.
While I'd love to give Weave a Circle Round points for inclusion, I can't. Every synopsis I found for this novel describes Freddy's sister Mel as smart and Roland as . . . deaf. That's it. He gets no other defining attribute despite being one of the more layered characters in the novel not to mention being key to the plot.
Roland's deafness feels more like a plot device than a key trait and is only ever seen in relation to Freddy. Freddy finds Roland tedious. She doesn't want to interact with him or learn sign language to talk to him. She has to get over that to move the plot forward. Bizarrely Roland talks throughout the book with only minimal mention of sign language at all. He also falls into the common trap of being a super lip reader carrying entire conversations with multiple people without signing at all.
Weave a Circle Round is likely to appeal to fans of A Wrinkle in Time and books in that vein. Unfortunately this story never quite realizes its potential or does right by its characters--especially Roland.
Possible Pairings: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Alchemy by Margaret Mahy, In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
Freddy's mother and step-father are so wrapped up in each other they hardly notice. And it's not like they can force Freddy to like her siblings anymore than they can force her to learn sign language so she can talk more with Roland.
It becomes even harder to pretend everything is normal when new tenants move into the house on Grosvenor Street--hardly a surprise since the house always seems to be in a state of flux.
Cuerva Lachance and Josiah aren't like any of the people who have previously rented the house on Grosvenor street. In fact, based on the way the house begins to defy the laws of physics, they may not even be people in Weave a Circle Round (2017) Kari Maaren.
Maaren's debut standalone is an intentionally chaotic and frenetic novel about time travel, family, and the power of story and talismans. Maaren pulls intricate plot threads together to create a story with eclectic characters and detailed world building.
Because of Freddy's age and the overall tone of the novel, Weave a Circle Round feels much younger than marketing would suggest--something not helped by flat and often one-dimensional characters. I'd put this book much more firmly in the middle grade category than YA were it left to my own devices.
While I'd love to give Weave a Circle Round points for inclusion, I can't. Every synopsis I found for this novel describes Freddy's sister Mel as smart and Roland as . . . deaf. That's it. He gets no other defining attribute despite being one of the more layered characters in the novel not to mention being key to the plot.
Roland's deafness feels more like a plot device than a key trait and is only ever seen in relation to Freddy. Freddy finds Roland tedious. She doesn't want to interact with him or learn sign language to talk to him. She has to get over that to move the plot forward. Bizarrely Roland talks throughout the book with only minimal mention of sign language at all. He also falls into the common trap of being a super lip reader carrying entire conversations with multiple people without signing at all.
Weave a Circle Round is likely to appeal to fans of A Wrinkle in Time and books in that vein. Unfortunately this story never quite realizes its potential or does right by its characters--especially Roland.
Possible Pairings: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, Alchemy by Margaret Mahy, In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
ryaaa's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
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
vespurr's review against another edition
DNF at 33% I just couldn't get into this one. I found all of the characters to be unlikable as well as weird and/or boring. The story itself sounded like something that would interest me (hey I love a time travel narrative!) But once the book actually reached the time travel portion (at about 30%) it got even stranger, and not in a good way. This just felt...I guess the word I'm looking for is immature? Yes, it's a YA book, but that doesn't mean it has to read like children's. I simply didn't enjoy this.
ashleylm's review against another edition
5.0
This reminds me greatly of Diana Wynne Jones, which is a wonderful quality in a book. I enjoyed it completely, to the extent that I was shocked to read (here) that some others didn't like it ... I can only assume they didn't read the back cover blurb (in my edition it says "a debut fantasy adventure for fans of Madeleine L'Engle, Diana Wynne Jones, and E. L. Konigsburg" and they weren't kidding!). If you're expecting passionate teen romance (maybe one of them's terminally ill, say) then This is NOT that book. It's very much a fantasy adventure for fans of MLE, DWJ, and ELK, though I found it especially Wynne Jonesian. If that's your jam, you'll adore it.
The book is divided into three acts, essentially. I usually hate when that happens--if it were a book I was enjoying--because the second act has new characters, or a shift in plot, and I lose everyone I enjoyed so much about the first part. But in this case the second act was just as interesting and compelling as the first, and when we came around to the final third everything from before paid off in new, unexpected ways.
My favourite book this year (so far). I'm hoping Ms. Maaren has a nice long career ahead of her, so I have more to read. (Now that I'm getting older, it's weirdly comforting to think that my new favourite authors will outlive me, and I won't ever run out of their books in my lifetime, so long as they keep writing).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
The book is divided into three acts, essentially. I usually hate when that happens--if it were a book I was enjoying--because the second act has new characters, or a shift in plot, and I lose everyone I enjoyed so much about the first part. But in this case the second act was just as interesting and compelling as the first, and when we came around to the final third everything from before paid off in new, unexpected ways.
My favourite book this year (so far). I'm hoping Ms. Maaren has a nice long career ahead of her, so I have more to read. (Now that I'm getting older, it's weirdly comforting to think that my new favourite authors will outlive me, and I won't ever run out of their books in my lifetime, so long as they keep writing).
(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s).
rlwertheimer's review against another edition
I really enjoyed the first hundred pages. Once the time travel started, I got completely lost, continued trying for another hundred pages, but ultimately decided to can it. Too bad.
kellkie's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
jeanettesonya's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent concept with time travel, mystery, and a chosen one trope! A purely fun read. My only two complaints: the time travel transitions were super abrupt and, at times confusing. And, for most of the time travel, I was a little unclear on the ‘quest’, the purpose behind the journeying. Which I guess was true for Freddy too, but I never really got the sense that she felt the same.
Still! Fabulous book. And, I could hear Kari’s voice all the way through which was extra bonus awesome.
Still! Fabulous book. And, I could hear Kari’s voice all the way through which was extra bonus awesome.
readerpants's review against another edition
Tried, couldn't finish. Felt too self-consciously L'Engle/Wynne-Jones-y.
ofliterarynature's review against another edition
4.0
When I first picked this up I was almost immediately ready to put it back down . I'm not entirely sure why, except maybe there was something about the writing style? Either way, I pushed through and I'm so glad I did! As soon as weird things started happening the book got 1000x better. I'm not usually one for time travel, but I feel that wasn't really the point here? This book was an incredible work of chaos and bizarreness and could flip from hilarious to terrifying in an instant and I loved it so much. Im not going to say everything worked perfectly, but I definitely look forward to reading it again someday to see if I can make any more sense out of it :D