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A review by lazygal
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean
4.0
I've read so many books and series about children going through a door of some sort, finding a new country and spending time there. And there are many other stories about children creating their own worlds, which usually don't manage to manifest in any way. This book combines those two, with one very interesting twist: the country doesn't always conform to the way the children imagined it would (or set it up to function).
That twist creates tensions that the children don't fully understand and adds to their problems fitting in the Secret Country (like when trying to fence expertly while not ever really having been taught, or realizing they're shorter than their characters are supposed to be). Despite all that, there is a lot of padding here and things that feel a little thrown in "because" rather than organically flowing from either the country or the children's stories. Add to that a few characters that are completely two-dimensional and this got rounded up from 3.5.
Rumor has it that Book 2 is better, so stay tuned.
That twist creates tensions that the children don't fully understand and adds to their problems fitting in the Secret Country (like when trying to fence expertly while not ever really having been taught, or realizing they're shorter than their characters are supposed to be). Despite all that, there is a lot of padding here and things that feel a little thrown in "because" rather than organically flowing from either the country or the children's stories. Add to that a few characters that are completely two-dimensional and this got rounded up from 3.5.
Rumor has it that Book 2 is better, so stay tuned.