micaelamariem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
I’m not really sure why, but this book really didn’t grab my attention. The premise was good but I think the writing fell flat. While using the pictures was a great way to do something different, it was a stretch and felt too forced sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Violence, and War
erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I tried to pick up a copy of this one as a graphic novel, as it was listed as on the shelves (at Christchurch South Library), but an unhelpful librarian refuse to help me track it down after I had flipped through everything on the shelves and come up wanting.. so I threw up my arms in agitation and just downloaded the audiobook. It was probably a wise decision in the long run.
The story focuses on a teen who is brought up in Florida and who has a close relationship with his Jewish grandfather who survived WWII. The man tells him fanciful stories and and shows him photographs of a children's home where he was raised with kids with special powers. The photographs look fake and a bit dodgy, so nobody believes his stories of special powers and monsters, assuming that they are the mentally divergent accommodations of a traumatised holocaust survivor. As the old man gets increasingly paranoid and the family are considering putting him in a care facility, his grandson goes to check on him, only to find that one of the monsters has got him.
Once his therapist okays the trip, he follows a set of clues in his grandfather's last words, and he travels with his father to a remote island in the UK where his father wishes to observe the local birdlife. There he puts together a puzzle that brings him into contact with people his grandfather once knew, and entangles him in further adventure.
Being set in Florida I notice that there is quite a bit of narrative about the treatment of the elderly. There is a focus on listening to the opinions of older people, and the ways that they are treated in society (there are a lot of rest homes and retirees in Florida, so this follows). I also encountered the term "lenai" for the first time. Intuiting that it was a type of verandah, I looked it up and realised that this common feature of houses in tropical climes was not unknown to me.. my Uncle has one similar to the pictures that I see in an internet web-search, and he lives in Australia.
The story is interesting, deals with alternate timelines and portals, and has a little bit of teen kissing, secret monsters, shape changers, levitating and snorkelling, and some stuff with common or garden necromancy, scary monsters, and sheep poo. This is the first part of a bigger story so it's not surprising that the end of it is a bit of a cliffhanger. I'd like to know what happens next.
The story focuses on a teen who is brought up in Florida and who has a close relationship with his Jewish grandfather who survived WWII. The man tells him fanciful stories and and shows him photographs of a children's home where he was raised with kids with special powers. The photographs look fake and a bit dodgy, so nobody believes his stories of special powers and monsters, assuming that they are the mentally divergent accommodations of a traumatised holocaust survivor. As the old man gets increasingly paranoid and the family are considering putting him in a care facility, his grandson goes to check on him, only to find that one of the monsters has got him.
Once his therapist okays the trip, he follows a set of clues in his grandfather's last words, and he travels with his father to a remote island in the UK where his father wishes to observe the local birdlife. There he puts together a puzzle that brings him into contact with people his grandfather once knew, and entangles him in further adventure.
Being set in Florida I notice that there is quite a bit of narrative about the treatment of the elderly. There is a focus on listening to the opinions of older people, and the ways that they are treated in society (there are a lot of rest homes and retirees in Florida, so this follows). I also encountered the term "lenai" for the first time. Intuiting that it was a type of verandah, I looked it up and realised that this common feature of houses in tropical climes was not unknown to me.. my Uncle has one similar to the pictures that I see in an internet web-search, and he lives in Australia.
The story is interesting, deals with alternate timelines and portals, and has a little bit of teen kissing, secret monsters, shape changers, levitating and snorkelling, and some stuff with common or garden necromancy, scary monsters, and sheep poo. This is the first part of a bigger story so it's not surprising that the end of it is a bit of a cliffhanger. I'd like to know what happens next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, and Gore
Minor: Kidnapping
ehutton322's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
allbookedupwithrosie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
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? No
3.5
Lovely story of a boy on a journey to discover the truth behind his grandfathers tales.
After seeing the tale unfold before his eyes on one unfortunate night, Jacob starts to wonder if the tales his grandfather had told as a child were truly true.
Tag along alone on a adventure to the island where you will meet some very friendly peculiars and unravel a past that Jacob has never dreamed of knowing.
Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and their peculiarities. Reminded me muchly of Percy and the Olympians and the adventure of discovering who Jacob is.
Being honest, I saw the movie years ago and fell in love with seeing the characters come to life on the screen. The book however gave me a deeper understanding of the past and characteristics of the characters.
After seeing the tale unfold before his eyes on one unfortunate night, Jacob starts to wonder if the tales his grandfather had told as a child were truly true.
Tag along alone on a adventure to the island where you will meet some very friendly peculiars and unravel a past that Jacob has never dreamed of knowing.
Thoroughly enjoyed the characters and their peculiarities. Reminded me muchly of Percy and the Olympians and the adventure of discovering who Jacob is.
Being honest, I saw the movie years ago and fell in love with seeing the characters come to life on the screen. The book however gave me a deeper understanding of the past and characteristics of the characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: War, Violence, and Death
spookily's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, Death, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Murder
Moderate: War, Grief, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Genocide
Minor: Abandonment, Child death, Drug use, Medical content, and Infidelity
ilariasbizzera's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Violence
Minor: War, Antisemitism, Genocide, Mental illness, and Blood
westonreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
- Never got bored while reading and couldn’t put it down during exciting parts.
- Liked how interesting the characters and the world building was.
- The images added in were very creative and I found it inspiring
- The only thing I didn’t like was the amount of characters and it was hard to remember who was who
- Liked how interesting the characters and the world building was.
- The images added in were very creative and I found it inspiring
- The only thing I didn’t like was the amount of characters and it was hard to remember who was who
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Minor: Mental illness
julied's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder
emmaopaline's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Xenophobia, Violence, and Death
Moderate: Xenophobia and War
jenny_librarian's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.0
I don’t know if it’s the reading slump, but I’m disappointed. This book was incredibly boring. I’m surprised it’s so popular. The audio didn’t really anything, and it actually hindered when the narrate leaned hard into an accent to the point that I could barely understand what he said.
I didn’t mind not having the pictures, since they were what made me DNF the book a few years ago. They don’t bring anything to the story anyways.
Even listening on the down low while grocery shopping and stuff, I found a way to be bored by it. Definitely won’t be reading the rest of the series.
I didn’t mind not having the pictures, since they were what made me DNF the book a few years ago. They don’t bring anything to the story anyways.
Even listening on the down low while grocery shopping and stuff, I found a way to be bored by it. Definitely won’t be reading the rest of the series.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Ableism, and Body horror
Minor: Sexism