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A review by ashmeanything
Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo
3.5
3.5/5 - While the individual elements still had the same charm, the overall structure of this book took a dip from the first one. It introduced a lot of disparate plot elements, seemingly to heighten the mystery and intrigue, but the overarching story really suffered. It was chaotic and unfocused a lot of the time, which was especially ironic given the ending, which felt very definite and gave almost no hint at needing to continue and find out more. Things got a lot darker, too, which felt a bit out of line for the age and audience set by the first book. Characters also felt deeper this time, though, with more moments of development and backstory, additional POVs, and showing emotions, not telling. I'll keep reading the series, but it's mostly being carried by the foundation laid already in book one.
It might be confirmation bias, but I also noticed multiple times when describing someone's appearance that it seemed to only mention skin color if the person was black or brown. I really don't like when stories do that and center white characters as a default. There's actually decent diversity in the story, but this feels like going against it completely.
Content warning for bullying, animal abuse, gaslighting, kidnapping, injury, and torture (or whatever you'd call breaking someone's bones on purpose).
It might be confirmation bias, but I also noticed multiple times when describing someone's appearance that it seemed to only mention skin color if the person was black or brown. I really don't like when stories do that and center white characters as a default. There's actually decent diversity in the story, but this feels like going against it completely.
Content warning for bullying, animal abuse, gaslighting, kidnapping, injury, and torture (or whatever you'd call breaking someone's bones on purpose).