lavendermarch's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this was a great book! It was exciting and funny and intriguing, and all of the characters (except the bad ones, obviously) were very well written. I picked up this book about a month ago, and I'm so glad I finally read it! It was really interesting and easy to read, and I will definitely be on the lookout for the next book. 4.5 stars! Oh, and I absolutely loved everything about the books, of course!
choosejoytoday's review against another edition
4.0
Can’t wait for the rest of the series. For being a short book (at least as far as most fantasy novels go) there was enough character development to really suck me into their stories. I’ll be recommending this to lots of kids.
rebar351's review against another edition
4.0
I am normally a YA reader but lately middle grade books are catching my eye. I really enjoyed Lost Books and I think it can be enjoyed by everyone young and old. I loved the plot line about Alex becoming a librarian and certain books being magical but not for the good but for the bad. But in Alex's words " books are not evil." I liked each character and was left wishing there was a book 2 possibility. It was action packed and had sword fighting and magic what's not to Love?
lavilian's review against another edition
3.0
The last few hours of this book almost got it to 4 stars for me but not quite.
The plot is interesting and the introduction to the world pulled me right in.
Im going to have a stroke while trying to explain this, but the reason it didn't get a 4 star for me is because of Alex, the main character, and the fact that thing aren't explained right away.
The characters in this book are introduced so that the reader gets the wrong impression at first, then slowly reveals who they really are.
This worked well for most of them.
Alex is introduced as a librarians assistant who doesn't have a lot of power. This should make him feel like the weak main character that has to grow and learn. But instead, he has a ridiculous amount of confidence, and knows things that others don't, which instead makes him a little mysterious and condescending.
In reality, we learn about what he knows and begin to understand where his confidence comes from, only to realize that he is really bad at explaining things, literally just like every other librarian. This can be very frustrating to witness.
I mean, books are killing people, and instead of demonstrating thier danger, he just tells everyone that books are VERY important, and in a way that suggests they should already know that.
One thing that should have been explained right away, and isn't really a spoiler because everyone in the world knows it, is that libraries are banned to the public (maybe it did and I missed it). That would explain why everyone doesn't already know about the books being alive in the first place.
But because it isn't explained, instead I got the impression that the books are only alive in front of Alex and there is no reason anyone should know anything and that he is being a huge idiot by not telling people this. It makes even less sense why he thinks people should care when he already states that his father DOESN'T care about the books. In the end, once I knew what was going on, I realized he actually is really bad at explaining things, just like me.
The plot is interesting and the introduction to the world pulled me right in.
Im going to have a stroke while trying to explain this, but the reason it didn't get a 4 star for me is because of Alex, the main character, and the fact that thing aren't explained right away.
The characters in this book are introduced so that the reader gets the wrong impression at first, then slowly reveals who they really are.
This worked well for most of them.
Alex is introduced as a librarians assistant who doesn't have a lot of power. This should make him feel like the weak main character that has to grow and learn. But instead, he has a ridiculous amount of confidence, and knows things that others don't, which instead makes him a little mysterious and condescending.
In reality, we learn about what he knows and begin to understand where his confidence comes from, only to realize that he is really bad at explaining things, literally just like every other librarian. This can be very frustrating to witness.
I mean, books are killing people, and instead of demonstrating thier danger, he just tells everyone that books are VERY important, and in a way that suggests they should already know that.
One thing that should have been explained right away, and isn't really a spoiler because everyone in the world knows it, is that libraries are banned to the public (maybe it did and I missed it). That would explain why everyone doesn't already know about the books being alive in the first place.
But because it isn't explained, instead I got the impression that the books are only alive in front of Alex and there is no reason anyone should know anything and that he is being a huge idiot by not telling people this. It makes even less sense why he thinks people should care when he already states that his father DOESN'T care about the books. In the end, once I knew what was going on, I realized he actually is really bad at explaining things, just like me.
rj921's review against another edition
5.0
Loved the snark. All of Sarah Prineas' books are amazing!
joanna77_'s review against another edition
2.0
I really didn't care for this one. The best part of this book was the magical pages that followed the kid around. It was just slow and ended too quickly.
autumnmichael's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. I wish there were more books like this! Clean, fun read for ages 10+. I found this book on my library app and am now interested in seeing if the author has other books of this kind.
readingrobin's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
elevetha's review against another edition
4.0
GR ate what I said...
A fun offering, but the writing did skew a little on the childish side for me at times.
A fun offering, but the writing did skew a little on the childish side for me at times.
kverity's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.75
I ended up enjoying this fantasy book with a cranky librarian who isn't afraid to challenge the queen (even though he doesn't totally know what he is doing)--and a queen who is able to stand up for herself as well. I liked the magical library aspects of the story, and am a bit disappointed there isn't a follow up book to deepen the characters (which I thought was maybe the weakest part of the book--even though I liked all of the characters....I just wanted more from them!)