Rose's review
The Candy Shop War
by Brandon Mull
Rose's review
The Candy Shop War by Brandon Mull
Rose's review
rating:
I wanted to like this, but um...I couldn't. I read an ARC, so maybe the final version is better. . It was all I could do to not whip out the blue pencil and start correcting. The prose is extremely distracting. Too many -ing sentences (signifying continuing action) being used in sequential action scenes, resulting in things that aren't physically possible. I would have chopped out the first 25 pages and summarized them in a few lines. Dialogue not natural and kidlike. And Way. Too. Violent. ? I really see how to Americans, a book is "clean" if it has no sex and no swearing. To Europeans, a book is "clean" if it is low on violence. The other option for each appears to be negligible. This book could have still packed the punches with action scenes, without using actual violence and weaponry images. There are also too many main characters to keep track of, and I couldn't make the emotional attachments I needed to love the story.
