The Summer of Shambles (Ondine Book #1) review by ...
The Summer of Shambles (Ondine Book #1)
Age Range - 12 and up
Genre - Fantasy

LitPick Review

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Age at time of review - 15
Reviewer's Location - Fredericksburg, VA, United States
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This book caught my eye because it seemed to be very lighthearted. I chose the book because I thought it would make me laugh, or maybe just enjoy a slightly whimsical story. While it was lighthearted and I believe intended to make me laugh, it really wasn't intriguing as a story I wanted to finish. So because of this, I did not finish the whole book. I would be grateful if all my opinions would be taken with a grain of salt because I haven't read the whole piece. The story begins with a rebellious girl taking her chance to leave school. She is accompanied by her pet, of all things, a ferret. Though there is something remarkable about the school she is departing; this school is for learning magic. She grows tired of her school and heads home. Later she realizes that her ferret is actually not a ferret, but a human who had a run-in with a vengeful witch, turning him into a small furry creature. This book depicts the adventures of this girl and her new friend (or is it something more?) in their attempt to change him back to his former self.

Opinion: 

The main reasons I didn’t choose to finish the book was how the author chose to draw me into the story, and the tone of the part of the book I read. To me personally, the plot itself was not enough to push the story forward. I didn’t feel connected to the characters or what they were doing. A book can have a fine plot, and be executed poorly, and that’s what I believe happened here. It was a mix of humor with serious characters that didn’t make me laugh. The real cool thing that I was intrigued by was the commentary-type format that the book was in; numbers by certain comments to describe the country, a magical background, etc. This was a very neat aspect, especially in the introduction. However, as much I liked it though, I believe this also lent itself to the strange humor of the book. It wasn’t so much as the story involving funny characters (which I probably would have enjoyed more) , but the author seemed to be making light of the story itself, which in turn made me consider the characters as boring or flat. So the overall tone of the book may very well be perfectly suited to someone else’s humor, which I definitely can appreciate. If you’ve read books like this before then you will most likely enjoy the adorable characters (especially the ferret) and magical world. I, however, could not enjoy the book as much because the tone wasn’t suited for me. The introduction was something that I needed to draw me in as well, which did not happen. I didn’t feel as though the characters were either introduced properly, or were possibly just not interesting enough, for me to care very much about them. Most of these things though, I realize, are very subjective, and I really appreciated the creativity that went into this book, the commentary, and the fun world that was drawn up. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.

Rating:
2
Content Rating:

Content rating - nothing offensive
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