You are currently browsing the daily archive for January 30, 2012.
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
I once tried to listen to Jim Dale read the first Harry Potter book, and stopped less than an hour in. I won’t say I’ve been completely won over to his voice, but it did feel well-suited to this fantasy/time travel adventure, particularly the voices of the dwarves!
While the story itself didn’t feel completely original, it did have a few elements that made it feel fresh. I enjoyed the combination of traditional children’s fantasy (the evil Countess and her frightening creatures, the dwarves, the children setting off on a quest/adventure) and time travel, which I tend to think of as it’s own category (traveling to an actual time in our history, as opposed to traveling to a time in a fantastical history). Some of the characters felt a bit flat at times, and I occasionally had trouble remembering which child had which adventure. Apart from that, an enjoyable story that I’ll recommend to my legions of fantasy fans.
Source: my public library
