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What Members Thought
Another book on the Golden Sower nominee list for middle grades, I was wary about this one. I do judge a book by its cover -- sorry -- and this one said "science-fiction fantasy", of which I am not a fan. My daughter started reading it on her own at first, but she missed reading to me and wanted to share the plot so badly. Fortunately, McMann does a pretty good job of making this genre palatable for even the wariest reader. In the fictional land of Quill, creativity and original thinking is outl
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A mixture of several genres, master of none. The premise is interesting, arts versus the overly structured life, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Many of the fantasy elements are downright silly (a platypus parrot? Really?) and what isn't plainly ridiculous is highly derivative. I can think of several kids that might find this enjoyable, but I don't know if I'll be giving this series another try.
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Great story! I wondered with the sentence "Harry Potter meets The Hunger Games" on the cover, but I thought this was very appropriate for middle grades (4-5)which is my target audience. It was magical, but not so violent as the Hunger Games. Loved it! Looking forward to the next volume!
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I was intrigued by the premise and enjoyed it initially, but the meandering plot, syrupy aspects, convenient but illogical plot contrivances wore on me. Still, it's a gentle-ish fantasy for middle grade readers.
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The Unwanteds is an engaging middle grade fantasy. I'm glad to have another fun fantasy book to put in the hands of avid readers, who go through books like hotcakes. The Kirkus Reviews quote above the title on the cover reads "The Hunger Games Meets Harry Potter," after reading other reviews I understand it probably was intended to mean 'Starts like The Hunger Games, ends like Harry Potter,' which is true. The in-between bits, however, never match the intensity of either HP or HG.
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3-1/2 stars. I liked this but not as much as I expected. I think this set up things for the ongoing series and I'm not sure about my frame of mind while reading it. That can have a large effect. I liked this enough to think I'm going to like the series and I'm going to continue.
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Fun book and concept, intriguing world-building, but an unsatisfying ending (too much, too fast) and narration that seemed to leap days and months without marking passage of time well.
Aug 25, 2011
Ellie
marked it as to-read
Nov 28, 2011
Katie
marked it as to-read
Feb 03, 2012
Cynthia Shutts
marked it as to-read
Sep 09, 2014
Regina
marked it as to-read
Sep 20, 2018
Jillian
marked it as to-read
