A review by lynnaeaowens
Sandry's Book by Tamora Pierce
3.0
The Protector of the Small series by Pierce is one of my favorite series of all times. I haven't read Pierce's earlier works, like the Circle of Magic series and was excited to pick this up.
The good - well-written middle-grade characters. Pierce does an excellent job capturing their unique characters as the story jumps between each point of view.
The meh - the plot never gripped me. There's really no "developing action" and the central plot is each character learning to work together. There is a big climax but almost no build up to it, and I found it hard to stay engaged throughout. The world building also didn't work for me fully. I like the unique kind of magic Pierce writes about here, but I never felt as though I fully understood the "rules" of this magic. Adult characters are mostly caricatures with little development.
This may work better for actually middle-grade-aged readers and it may improve as the series progresses, but I'm not sure I'll continue with book 2.
The good - well-written middle-grade characters. Pierce does an excellent job capturing their unique characters as the story jumps between each point of view.
The meh - the plot never gripped me. There's really no "developing action" and the central plot is each character learning to work together. There is a big climax but almost no build up to it, and I found it hard to stay engaged throughout. The world building also didn't work for me fully. I like the unique kind of magic Pierce writes about here, but I never felt as though I fully understood the "rules" of this magic. Adult characters are mostly caricatures with little development.
This may work better for actually middle-grade-aged readers and it may improve as the series progresses, but I'm not sure I'll continue with book 2.