CHARLIE BROOKS

A cute kids' story, spoiled (at least for me) by rather too many continuity or logic errors. Things like - the book begins with Sarah telling herself a story of the Emerald Enchantress, and continues with two more. Then she encounters the legend of the Enchantress - and her comment is, I've heard of her somewhere. Nothing about the stories she tells herself, just "somewhere". Or when she meets the (only?) female dragon, and is very surprised that the dragon knows her name - and never notices that she knows the _dragon's_ name without being told. The story runs a bit conveniently, but not too badly - though I was very surprised that a girl who reads as much fantasy as Sarah is supposed to was as genre-blind about traveling to another world as she was. Ok, but not good - and I'm not interested in reading her next adventure. The more I think about the story, the more annoyed I get - for one thing, given the revelation at the end, just why is her mother so upset (to the point of sending her to therapy) about her reading fairy tales? Sheesh. And I didn't like the original Puddleglum, so Dax drives me nuts. One incompetent who's convinced he's wonderful, one very competent person who does his best to convince everyone around him that he's incompetent, and Sarah...who doesn't know what she knows. Bah.… (altro)

I absolutely LOVE this book. I wish I had it in print! This story is well-written, captured my imagination and is full of adventure, danger, magic and friendship. I highly recommend this to middle grade readers who love adventure and mystery that keeps the reader guessing til the very end. With intriguing twists and turns this story of friendship, determination and personal growth will capture the imagination of even the most skeptical reader.

The characters are well-developed. The strained relationship between Sarah and her mother is realistic, and explains the reasons for her constant fantasizing well. Her desire to escape leads to her ultimate adventure and her learning some valuable lessons along the way. The emotional roller coaster that Sarah and her new-found friends experience kept my interest from start to finish. I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next. Hopefully there will be another adventure in Greystone Valley for Sarah real soon.

*I received an early review copy of Greystone Valley by Charlie Brooks from Grey Gecko Press as part of Librarything Early Reviewers program. all reviews are my personal opinion -see my blog for more info momloves2read(dot)com… (altro)

* I received a free copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers Program*

This is a cute coming-of-age adventure fantasy where an imaginative little girl finds out that her daydreams may actually be based in reality. When Sarah wishes herself out of her own world, she turns up in Greystone Valley and learns that magic is real, as are fairies and dragons. However, she learns that villains are also real and must come head-to-head with a warlord intent on conquering every land he can find.

Greystone Valley is cute and fun, but also predictable and fairly standard for this sort of story. I liked the interweaving of different fantasy elements; such as Sarah's encounters with the fey and then the dragons. It's also nice to think of a castle in some distant land that holds the gateways to all different sorts of worlds. I could definitely see this becoming a series of some sort, though it works just fine as a stand-alone.

Overall, this is a fairly enjoyable story. I think children who like fantasy will like this; it's a fast-paced and straightforward story with lots of action involved. For older readers, it may be too simple and predictable, but younger readers are sure to love exploring the world of Greystone Valley and discovering all the fantastical elements it has to offer.… (altro)