I'm wondering if the next book will be blue, red, or yellow? Food for thought!Įasily the biggest Middle Reader dud of 2013. Even though I know they would definitely probably be reunited in the next book, I still felt really sad. I felt like I could totally understand Connor's devastation at losing Alex. It's just so exciting to read about! The ending was sooo sad that tears actually welled up in my eyes a bit. I LOVED how this book was another item-collecting quest. Why? Well, first off, any book that grabs me and doesn't let go until 1 am in the morning, (not that I wanted to sleep but I really had to rest my eyes), deserves a high rating. But I was willing to overlook these flaws and still give the book 5 stars, even if it did take Alex and Connor 9 chapters of 126 pages to return to the Land of Stories, and then another 8 chapters of 157 pages to actually begin their quest. It was rather, I suppose it was because the targeted audience is younger than myself that I felt that some sentences didn't flow well, or were unnecessary. THE COVER LOOKS aMAZing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!īUT AUGUST? DO THESE PEOPLE HONESTLY THINK I CAN SURVIVE THAT on Oct 11, 2013Įither my reading improved, or Chris Colfer's writing deteriorated, cuz this time I actually noticed his writing style. I'll just enjoy them more once Colfer relaxes and realizes his audience can and will find his cleverness without him having to hand feed it to them.

And of course none of this is to say I haven't enjoyed these books, I truly have. That being said, Colfer is very young and very smart and I have little doubt that his tendency to self congratulate will dissapate as he matures as a writer. I get it, you're clever, you can stop beating me over the head with it.

Which comes across as pompous and condescending to the reader. It isn't enough to write a great little bit of dialouge, there has to be a 'see what I did there?!' moment immediately following it. The entire time reading these books I got the distinct impression that there is a LOT of self flagalting going on. Colfer definitely has a talent for storytelling, but it is so very obvious that he knows this. But the wink wink, nudge nudge quality to the writing makes me crazy. The characters are fun and interesting for the most part.

The enchantress returns