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What Members Thought

Gina
Aug 18, 2016 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I loved this delightfully weird little book. I'm surprised that there are any negative reviews, since it was such an entertaining and interesting read. The pictures enhanced the storyline, and I liked the uniqueness of using them. I look forward to seeing the movie (I hope it does the book justice), and continuing with the rest of the series. ...more
Angie
Feb 27, 2014 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The photos added such a powerful element to the book!! I thought the whole thing was a great combination of quirky and creepy and mysterious and fascinating. There were a LOT of characters and I struggled a bit to keep the peculiar children straight in my mind, but I still enjoyed the book from start to finish. I passed it on to my 16 year old son last night and he's already on page 70. Thumbs up! ...more
Judy
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Meghan
Feb 14, 2013 rated it it was ok  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: ya
It turns out you can judge a book by its cover, convince yourself that this is going to be one amazing book, and then find the contents lacking.

The premise itself if interesting and magical but the execution in terms of writing was off. The build-up to the actual action and intrigue took almost 1/2 of the book and the explosive ending felt rushed. The main character, Jacob, also read as much younger and the inconsistencies in his character development took me out of the story at several key poi
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Christine H
This had an interesting concept, but the pacing felt very off to me. There's far too much exposition and background, and then the adventure seems rushed and truncated. Yet despite a boatload of setup, the main character still felt underwritten, as do most of the characters.

When I got to the end of the book and discovered that it was written around real vintage photos, it made a lot of sense. That's an interesting idea, but it seems like this needed better editorial guidance to turn it into a fun
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Teri G
Nov 06, 2011 rated it it was ok  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: abandoned

How often have we been told not to judge a book by its cover? Well, I shouldn't choose them that way, either. This one looked intriguing, and it started out ok, but this didn't last long. I don't mind young adult books (in fact, there are several that I love), but this book wasn't meant to be one. It was just written like one, and not a very good one at that. I agree with many of the points other reviews have made -- and i know i'll be skipping the sequel. Don't bother with this one either, and
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Julia
Loved this book! Well-written, not as predictable as expected, and different from everything else out there. There is a strong sense of "TBC" at the end, I find myself torn as I would like to read more about these characters but I also liked the "riding off into the sunset/not everything resolved" ending as well. I've only given 5 5 star ratings this year, and this is one of them. ...more
Lynn
Jun 29, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Eva
Oct 03, 2011 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Kristin Brandt
Dec 13, 2011 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Asya
Aug 22, 2012 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Dana
Dec 01, 2012 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: fantasy, teen-fiction
Julie C.
Jan 30, 2013 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: book-group-13-14
Megan
May 25, 2013 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Nicole Oswald
Jan 28, 2018 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: readauthorso-u
Heather
Jul 29, 2014 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Kelly
Oct 25, 2016 rated it it was ok  ·  review of another edition
katy
Nov 27, 2015 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Joy
Sep 23, 2016 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Elizabeth
Mar 06, 2017 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Jessica
May 30, 2017 rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
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