book reviews

Book Review: Escape Room

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Escape Room by Christopher Edge

Escape Room
by Christopher Edge

4 out of 5 stars

Ami is excited to join the Escape Room game with the other kids assigned as her teammates. When they enter the game, they are told to find the Answer and save the world. Their first puzzle is in a dusty attic filled with antique technology. They move through various rooms, confronted with impossible puzzles in a massive library, a Mayan tomb, a derelict shopping mall, and a spaceship. In every room, there are mysterious clues that could lead to life-threatening danger or… escape.

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Book Review: Quest of the Mermaid Princess

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Quest of the Mermaid Princess by Lee Watts

Quest of the Mermaid Princess
by Lee Watts

4 out of 5 stars

Angelique is secretly a mermaid, abandoned as a baby in an orphanage on land. She has never seen another mermaid and avoids salt water so that she doesn’t transform into a mermaid. Although Angelique grew up working as a servant, but hopes to get a job as a handmaiden to the queen and find a true home. She rescues a little otter and names him Dash, and he becomes her faithful pet. Captain Tarren commands a rowdy group of privateers, and tells Angelique of treasures to be found in the ocean that could make her rich, so she decides to venture into the coastal waters and test her abilities as a mermaid. But dark magic and danger await her in the ocean depths, and Angelique is pursued by an evil witch!

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Book Review: Dungeon Runners: Ocean Chase

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Dungeon Runners by Kieran Larwood

Dungeon Runners: Ocean Chase (Volume 3)
by Kieran Larwood (Goodreads Author), Joe Todd-Stanton (illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Kit is a half-gnome and half-dwarf, who has entered the Dungeon Runners league. His teammates are a sea hag and a vegan vampire. Kit is supposed to be the fighter in their group, but he keeps dropping his magic sword in training. Everyone laughs, thinking that this team is too small and too young to survive the dangerous competition. In this third book of the series, they go into an underwater dungeon, and Kit is very nervous because he can’t swim! But they find that some of the other dungeon runner teams are friendly, and they might have some unexpected allies.

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Book Review: Dungeon Runners: Sky Battles

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Dungeon Runners by Kieran Larwood

Dungeon Runners: Sky Battles (Dungeon Runners, #2)
by Kieran Larwood (Goodreads Author), Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Kit is a half-gnome and half-dwarf, who has entered the Dungeon Runners league. His teammates are a sea hag who can only do one spell, and a vegan vampire. Kit is supposed to be the fighter in their group, but he only has a useless wooden sword. Everyone laughs, thinking that this team is too small and too young to survive the dangerous competition, but Kit and his trusty friends discover that the Dungeon hides more surprises than anyone bargained for. In this second book of the series, they compete in their first real dungeon located high in the mountains, and they have to use some wily cleverness to make it through alive.

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Three Book Reviews from Nosy Crow

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Princess Minna by Kirsty Applebaum

Princess Minna: The Giant Beanstalk
by Kirsty Applebaum (Goodreads Author),Sahar Haghgoo (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

Princess Minna is called to defend the town from a giant who keeps stealing noisy animals. Princess Minna follows the giant up the beanstalk and brings the animals back, but the giant just keeps stealing more noisy animals, looking for an animal that can sing beautifully. Princess Minna will have to be very clever and kind if she can find a solution and help the giant!

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Book Review: The Worm Ouroboros

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The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

The Worm Ouroboros (Dover Literature: Science Fiction/Fantasy)
by E.R. Eddison

2.5 out of 5 stars


The lords of Demonland go to war against the necromancer King of Witchland. The Witch King uses dark magic to carry off one of the Demon lords, Goldry Bluszco, and his brothers vow to find him. Lord Juss and Brandoch Daha travel past the inhospitable Impland to the dangerous mountains, searching for Goldry, while Lord Spitfire continues the war against Witchland at home. They fight manticores, search for a hippogriff egg, and face ghostly apparitions and enchantments in their search through the mountains to find Goldry. Several magical ladies and queens assist them in their quest, but the war is not going well for Lord Spitfire back in Demonland.
Lord Gro is a traitor from Goblinland who has joined the Witchland court and is counselling the Witch King and other Witch generals in the war. He plays against both sides, always with his own agenda to latch onto any high official and play puppet master.

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Book Review: Dungeon Runners Level 1: Hero Trial

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Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood

Hero Trial (Dungeon Runners #1)
by Kieran Larwood (Goodreads Author), Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Kit is half-gnome and half-dwarf, making his whole family “gnorfs” – a small race of people in this magical land. In fact, only one gnorf in history has ever entered the dangerous Dungeon Runner games, but Kit is determined to put together a team and try to complete the trials so that he can compete. His teammates are a sea hag who can only do one spell, and a vegan vampire. Kit is supposed to be the fighter in their group, but he only has a useless wooden sword. Everyone laughs, thinking that this team is too small and too young to survive the dangerous competition, but Kit and his new friends discover that the Dungeon hides more surprises than anyone bargained for.

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Book Review: Charlie Bone and the Hidden King

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Charlie Bone and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie Bone and the Hidden King (Children of the Red King, #5)
by Jenny Nimmo

5 out of 5 stars

Charlie is dismayed to see that the Shadow in the Red King’s portrait has escaped from the frame. The Shadow is actually a powerful dark sorcerer who is putting the whole city under his spell. Charlie’s mother is a target, and Charlie must discover how the Shadow escaped and find a way to defeat or control him. A magical mirror has been stolen, and Charlie hopes that it could help him find his father, but first he must find the Red King and beg for his help.

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Book Review: Ghost Abbey

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Ghost Abbey by Robert Westall

Ghost Abbey
by Robert Westall

4 out of 5 stars

Maggi is delighted when her father takes a job restoring an old abbey in the country. The family, including her two little twin brothers, move into the habitable parts of the mansion, along with Miss MacFarlane, the secretary overseeing the restoration of the abbey. Maggi cleans out the bedrooms and sets up the kitchen, since she has been used to doing all the housekeeping since her mother’s death. But there are many mysterious things happening around the abbey, and Maggi starts to wonder if the house itself is sentient. An ethereal voice sings in the garden, bells ring to call servants that are long dead, and Maggi sees a vision of a man from history. Could the house be trying to protect itself from intruders, or is the house welcoming them and asking for help?

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Book Review: The Wide, Wide World

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The Wide, Wide World by Susan Bogert Warner

The Wide, Wide World
by Susan Bogert Warner

4 out of 5 stars

Ellen’s mother goes abroad hoping to improve her health in Europe, and Ellen is sent to live with her grumpy aunt. Her mother encourages her to look to Jesus for help and guidance, and Ellen’s temper is sorely tried when her aunt is unjust and mean to her. But Ellen has some help from Alice, a neighbor lady who is the daughter of a local preacher. Although Ellen’s aunt won’t send her to school, Alice agrees to help Ellen with her studies in French and English grammar and they pray and read the Bible together too. Alice’s brother, John, also agrees to help with Ellen’s education, and teaches her history, science, and horseback riding. Through many difficulties and setbacks, Ellen learns to trust in God and finds peace in His providence.

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