A review by ashmeanything
Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo

3.0

Reading this series has been pretty good, but I know it could be better. This book, like the one before it, suffers from focusing too much on the individual book rather than the book as part of a series. Lots of interesting and exciting things happen, but they aren't really connected to the overarching story. It's so serialized that the main conflict is wrapped up by the end of the book (spoilers, sorry, but this is a kid's book), and a few quick mentions of "Charlie knew his dad was still alive out there" are the only things pointing to a greater story that connects everything. Maybe the author didn't know if there would be more books, but decisive, cheery, and finite endings really don't spark curiosity to continue reading. I know I'm an adult reviewing a kids' series, but I am not surprised to feel this way after forgetting to finish the series years ago. I'd like to see where it ends but hope it picks up; there are a lot of books left.

Also hoping the author stops only mentioning someone's skin color when the character is black; it feels bad.

Content warnings for kidnapping, mind control, murder, animal abuse, injury, illness, and torture.