Oy... I really wanted to like this book. I had such high hopes for it. It was one of those books that whenever my students saw me reading it they said, "Oh, I really liked that book! It was so good." So, I thought it would be great. It just wasn't. The story was nice. In short (very short): Meggie's father repairs books. Her mother disappeared nine years ago. After a mysterious visitor shows up at their house, Meggie finds out that her father has a secret. He can read characters out of books. Nine years ago he was reading aloud and read a terrible villian out of the book and simultaneously read Meggie's mother into the book. The rest of the story is Meggie and her father trying to defeat the villian and maybe get her mother back.
Overall... it was a great idea for a book, it just wasn't particularly well excecuted. I can't exactly place my finger on what I didn't like, but it just didn't sit well with me. I think it was the lack of character development. I didn't feel like I really knew the characters. I also felt like I couldnt' quite picture what was happening. I wanted more description-strange for such a long novel. And overall, it was just too long. I felt like it really dragged. I wanted it to move more quickly and have a bit more action. Great premise, but I'm not super excited to read the next one.