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A review by mythandmiddlegrade
Rosemary and the Book of the Dead by Samantha Giles
1.0
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
1.5 stars. Have to say this was more disappointing than the first read. As with the the first book this story suffers from a lack of explanation and not enough detail.
Characters motivations aren’t clear and every crisis that appears is immediately and easily solved. The intentions of the villain and their sidekick are unclear. What is the sidekick’s motivation? Is the villain a witch too? - this is never explained and they seemingly hate witches but yet use magic themselves.
The setting of Egypt and references to ancient Egypt felt tagged on as an afterthought rather than the core of the plot. The exploration of ancient Egyptian myth was superficial at best and again there was no real explanation of why it was the book of the dead that the villain was settled on. Other than ‘evil beasts’ can be set loose from it.
The 1.5 stars is purely for Gile’s ability to showcase mental health in clear but imagery filed way. The magic in this feels wasted and it seems that perhaps Giles should focus on writing about mental health for children.
1.5 stars. Have to say this was more disappointing than the first read. As with the the first book this story suffers from a lack of explanation and not enough detail.
Characters motivations aren’t clear and every crisis that appears is immediately and easily solved. The intentions of the villain and their sidekick are unclear. What is the sidekick’s motivation? Is the villain a witch too? - this is never explained and they seemingly hate witches but yet use magic themselves.
The setting of Egypt and references to ancient Egypt felt tagged on as an afterthought rather than the core of the plot. The exploration of ancient Egyptian myth was superficial at best and again there was no real explanation of why it was the book of the dead that the villain was settled on. Other than ‘evil beasts’ can be set loose from it.
The 1.5 stars is purely for Gile’s ability to showcase mental health in clear but imagery filed way. The magic in this feels wasted and it seems that perhaps Giles should focus on writing about mental health for children.