Reviews

No Escape from the Alhambra by Joachim Knappe, Constanze Spengler, Kirsten Boie

vegan_schnitzel's review against another edition

2.0

Entspannte Jugendliteratur. Die Bezüge zu Granada in der Vergangenheit sind lesenswert, die Story macht aber nicht so viel her.

piahz's review against another edition

4.0

DNF but not because I didn't like it, I just confused two books with one another and this one is for kids

hobhouchin's review against another edition

3.0

Ein spannendes Buch und eine mitreißende Geschichte. Ab einem bestimmten Punkt schafft man es einfach nicht mehr, aufzuhören und muss einfach wissen, wie es weitergeht.
Die Charaktere bleiben sich zwar alle treu, sind aber auch relativ oberflächlich. Mal mehr, mal weniger. Aufgrund der Tatsache, dass es sich hier um ein Jugendbuch handelt durchaus verschmerzbar.
Gut gefiel mir, dass sich die Charaktere selber dem Problem und dem Paradox des Zeitreisens annähern, ohne jedoch irgendeine hanebüchene Lösung finden zu müssen. So bleibt einiges auch hier wieder unerklärt (warum kann Boston die Leute in der Vergangenheit so gut verstehen?), aber immerhin bleibt der Punkt nicht absolut außen vor.

cptrexct's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

jupiterwasactuallysirius's review against another edition

adventurous informative mysterious relaxing tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Really liked it back then.

holalisa's review against another edition

adventurous informative lighthearted mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

3.0

hasan27's review against another edition

2.0

Ok so I started reading this once when I was about 8 years old but didn't finish it because I got too scared for the protagonist not being able to return home... so there definitely is a good measure of identification and relatability to the protagonist that was built well enough that it emotionally engaged me so at that age. I recently picked it back up, remembering that, and wondering whether it might be worth another read. But then I opened the page and with every sentence I grew more and more uncomfortable with the blatantly clear orientalism and exoticization of culture that happens with the style of writing. Describing things as a piece of "orient" and "exotic" made me so uncomfortable I actually put it back down. That, aided by the fact our protagonist is a white dude surrounded by his mostly diverse classmates who he somehow sees as odd people he acknowledges the existence of, made the reading experience up to chapter 3 (from there I really couldn't bear it anymore) quite excruciating to read, because it felt like just another attempt of "admiring" "such a strange but exotic culture", without actually going into much depth beyond the political and fascinating. Truly, the air of fascination about culture feels so shallow it seems like the person cannot relate and exoticizes it, and my own encounters with this experience made this so uncomfortable. It could have been so good if, and if only, this issue was at least addressed even just in the tone, in which this book is narrated. But no, it seems that the exoticization of culture is a good thing. At least we aren't ridiculing it, right?
In conclusion: another technically well-written white book about a culture that is not, which should not have been written 1. by this person or 2. from this perspective without at least a little bit of insight or commentary on that.

mc10's review

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

maja_reads249's review against another edition

I didn't really like the storyline and I think it was kind of difficult to understand the scenes in the past. 

anarchash's review against another edition

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5