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EmersonRose (320 KP) rated Dodger's Doorrway in Books
Nov 20, 2019
Dodger’s Doorway, by Alessandro Reale, is a fantasy adventure story that explores retelling classic fairy tales and fables in unique and fun ways. The book follows main character Mark ‘Dodger’ Bishop, a teenager from our world who is tired of his life. While struggling with divorcing parents, and school bullies, and getting through his senior year of high school, Dodger finds a doorway to another world. This world is inhabited by the fairytale characters of our childhoods. Dodger meets Humpty Dumpty and Rumpelstiltskin and many more classic characters. Dodger is taken on an exciting journey which has its dangers and challenges. Along the way, Dodger must work to not only save Storyworld but work through his own fears and struggles.
Dodger’s Doorway is a fantastical adventure that makes for a super fun read. The melded fairytale worlds is a theme we have seen more and more of, which I love, and I think that Reale did a masterful job of combining the magical nostalgia of the characters we know and love as well as bringing in a unique twist and creating new life in this classic characters. I particularly liked the portrayal of Humpty Dumpty. I think that Humpty is a character that is often veered away from as being too hard or not interesting enough to expand upon, but Reale takes him and makes him into an exciting warrior, which I thought was very clever. Reale’s Storyworld combines the magical innocence and dark origins of the stories and characters he chooses which gives the story a real sense of danger and epic adventure that makes the book a quick and thrilling read. Reale took inspirational from a wide range of stories; from Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and many more. I loved the variety and enjoyed seeing Reale’s spin on the characters.
The book itself is well-written, and the arc works well to make for a book that is hard to put down. Dodger is a great character in that he has a lot of growth throughout the book and creates real feeling relationships with the fairytale characters he meets. I liked that Reale brought the book to a young adult read instead of a children’s book by playing with the dark sides of fairytales, as well as making Dodger a teenager dealing with very real young adult issues.
Dodger’s Doorway is an enchanting story with a lot of heart. I very much enjoyed reading it. If you are a fan of fantasy stories, particularly tales where characters find magical worlds, a personal childhood dream of mine and many others I am sure, then I would highly recommend giving this book a read!
Dodger’s Doorway is a fantastical adventure that makes for a super fun read. The melded fairytale worlds is a theme we have seen more and more of, which I love, and I think that Reale did a masterful job of combining the magical nostalgia of the characters we know and love as well as bringing in a unique twist and creating new life in this classic characters. I particularly liked the portrayal of Humpty Dumpty. I think that Humpty is a character that is often veered away from as being too hard or not interesting enough to expand upon, but Reale takes him and makes him into an exciting warrior, which I thought was very clever. Reale’s Storyworld combines the magical innocence and dark origins of the stories and characters he chooses which gives the story a real sense of danger and epic adventure that makes the book a quick and thrilling read. Reale took inspirational from a wide range of stories; from Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and many more. I loved the variety and enjoyed seeing Reale’s spin on the characters.
The book itself is well-written, and the arc works well to make for a book that is hard to put down. Dodger is a great character in that he has a lot of growth throughout the book and creates real feeling relationships with the fairytale characters he meets. I liked that Reale brought the book to a young adult read instead of a children’s book by playing with the dark sides of fairytales, as well as making Dodger a teenager dealing with very real young adult issues.
Dodger’s Doorway is an enchanting story with a lot of heart. I very much enjoyed reading it. If you are a fan of fantasy stories, particularly tales where characters find magical worlds, a personal childhood dream of mine and many others I am sure, then I would highly recommend giving this book a read!
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Wizards of Once in Books
Sep 24, 2020
This novel is told by a third person, the “Unknown Narrator”, who is one of the characters, but I couldn’t figure out who it was. 😀 The main characters are Xar (a wizard) and Wish (a warrior), they belong to two separate tribes, who are at war with each other, and both of these characters are a very naughty thirteen-year-olds. 🙂 I really liked Wish in this book, I think she is quite smart, and I really liked her strangeness. She is not like everybody else, and I think it really suited her. I really didn’t like Xar, I think he is rude, ignorant, absolutely horrible, self-centred brat, and he is a very bad example for kids. :/ I understand that author chose him for a reason and to prove some points to the young generation, but still, I couldn’t stand him. I really liked all the magical creatures, which the author created for this book. They were super fun and gave this “Harry Potter” vibe, which I really liked.
The narrative of this book is filled with plenty of magic and very fun adventures, which I really enjoyed. I liked the way the author was trying to surprise the reader with unexpected twists and turns and an interesting outcome from particular actions.
I kind of liked the writing style of this book, it feels very little edited and quite raw. (Like, when you tell an actual story, and u need to clarify some of the things you say) However, the same thing dragged out the story a little, making the chapters feel quite long sometimes. My most favourite thing about this book was the illustrations. It helped me to understand how all the characters and magical creatures looked like, and in general, they were absolutely stunning. I also liked that the author included quite a few of them in every chapter, it was fun to read and it gave a different texture to the whole story.
The language used in this book was easy to understand and pretty fun, and as I mentioned before, the chapters were quite long, but the illustrations kept the reading experience entertaining and not boring. The ending of this story was quite unexpected and the author creatively hinted about another book to follow. So, to conclude, it is a fun and adventurous story, filled with magic and magnificent creatures. Now, for the recommendation, I think adults should read it first and then decide if they want their kids to dig in. Xar’s attitude might have a negative impact on some of the kids, but I will leave that for the parents to decide. Enjoy! 🙂
The narrative of this book is filled with plenty of magic and very fun adventures, which I really enjoyed. I liked the way the author was trying to surprise the reader with unexpected twists and turns and an interesting outcome from particular actions.
I kind of liked the writing style of this book, it feels very little edited and quite raw. (Like, when you tell an actual story, and u need to clarify some of the things you say) However, the same thing dragged out the story a little, making the chapters feel quite long sometimes. My most favourite thing about this book was the illustrations. It helped me to understand how all the characters and magical creatures looked like, and in general, they were absolutely stunning. I also liked that the author included quite a few of them in every chapter, it was fun to read and it gave a different texture to the whole story.
The language used in this book was easy to understand and pretty fun, and as I mentioned before, the chapters were quite long, but the illustrations kept the reading experience entertaining and not boring. The ending of this story was quite unexpected and the author creatively hinted about another book to follow. So, to conclude, it is a fun and adventurous story, filled with magic and magnificent creatures. Now, for the recommendation, I think adults should read it first and then decide if they want their kids to dig in. Xar’s attitude might have a negative impact on some of the kids, but I will leave that for the parents to decide. Enjoy! 🙂
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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Spelled (The Storymakers, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
<b><i>I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
Pun intended in that post title.
As the crown princess of Emerald who may be cursed to set the world on fire, Dorthea has been locked in the Emerald Palace since she was born and kept away from anything that could potentially catch fire. When she gets a wishing star, she decides to use it, only to have it completely backfire on her.
<i>Spelled</i> is filled with bits of humor throughout, particularly from the side characters who have quickly become my favorite characters. The main character, on the other hand...
<blockquote>But I really, <i>really</i> don't want to.</blockquote>
Dorthea pretty much annoyed me for a good part of the book. She's snotty, stuck-up, spoiled – gosh, I'm turning that into a tongue twister with so many s-words. She's also whiny – Dorthea spends her time whining and complaining for quite literally a quarter of the book before someone snarks at her and tells her to shut up, grow up, and act like a proper princess (she even had the nerve to say no one else had manners – manners? *flips hair* Ha! Nope!) She's funny at some points, but the majority of her sarcasm seemed more like an attempt at sounding funny rather than actually being as funny as Rexi's use of sarcasm and snark.
<blockquote><b>Bob:</b> No, Priestess. When all his nails are broken, he will die.
<b>Rexi:</b> You can't get a haircut, and he can't get a manicure. Death by salon visit.</blockquote>
I even started wondering if <i>Spelled,</i> as pretty as the cover the book and premise is, would even last. The book isn't strictly a retelling of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> – there are other fairy tale characters as well. Throwing in other fairy tale characters aren't exactly bothersome in my case, but Schow throws in King Midas and chimeras – both of whom are from <i>Greek mythology</i>, NOT from a fairy tale. Someone please tell me I'm wrong and those two actually appear in a fairy tale, because if they do appear in one, I obviously haven't read enough of the non-gruesome original fairy tales. Or do they actually appear in the gruesome ones? I would love to know.
<i>Spelled</i> could be considered a fun read, if you put aside all of the problems – there's humor, a good premise, and an amazing cast of side characters. But if you don't have the patience to handle a spoiled and stuck-up princess who whines a lot for approximately a quarter of the book, <i>Spelled</i> might not be a book on your radar.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-spelled-by-betsy-schow/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Pun intended in that post title.
As the crown princess of Emerald who may be cursed to set the world on fire, Dorthea has been locked in the Emerald Palace since she was born and kept away from anything that could potentially catch fire. When she gets a wishing star, she decides to use it, only to have it completely backfire on her.
<i>Spelled</i> is filled with bits of humor throughout, particularly from the side characters who have quickly become my favorite characters. The main character, on the other hand...
<blockquote>But I really, <i>really</i> don't want to.</blockquote>
Dorthea pretty much annoyed me for a good part of the book. She's snotty, stuck-up, spoiled – gosh, I'm turning that into a tongue twister with so many s-words. She's also whiny – Dorthea spends her time whining and complaining for quite literally a quarter of the book before someone snarks at her and tells her to shut up, grow up, and act like a proper princess (she even had the nerve to say no one else had manners – manners? *flips hair* Ha! Nope!) She's funny at some points, but the majority of her sarcasm seemed more like an attempt at sounding funny rather than actually being as funny as Rexi's use of sarcasm and snark.
<blockquote><b>Bob:</b> No, Priestess. When all his nails are broken, he will die.
<b>Rexi:</b> You can't get a haircut, and he can't get a manicure. Death by salon visit.</blockquote>
I even started wondering if <i>Spelled,</i> as pretty as the cover the book and premise is, would even last. The book isn't strictly a retelling of <i>The Wizard of Oz</i> – there are other fairy tale characters as well. Throwing in other fairy tale characters aren't exactly bothersome in my case, but Schow throws in King Midas and chimeras – both of whom are from <i>Greek mythology</i>, NOT from a fairy tale. Someone please tell me I'm wrong and those two actually appear in a fairy tale, because if they do appear in one, I obviously haven't read enough of the non-gruesome original fairy tales. Or do they actually appear in the gruesome ones? I would love to know.
<i>Spelled</i> could be considered a fun read, if you put aside all of the problems – there's humor, a good premise, and an amazing cast of side characters. But if you don't have the patience to handle a spoiled and stuck-up princess who whines a lot for approximately a quarter of the book, <i>Spelled</i> might not be a book on your radar.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-spelled-by-betsy-schow/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>