A straightforward fantasy adventure with talking animals, danger and a long awaited quest. Alexa Daley has lived her whole life inside the stone walls that surround Bridewell and all she has ever longed for is to find a way outside. When her friend and the constructor of the walls, Thomas Warvold dies, Alexa is thrust into the middle of a long planned uprising and must solve the puzzles the Warvold family left behind in order to save the day.

This was nothing new in the fantasy adventure genre but enjoyable all the same. There is low angst, a big quest and a mysterious saboteur to be found. The mystery saboteur was a bit obvious now Elephant Worship = Sebastian with a character named Ganesh it wasn't exactly hard but I can't remember if I ever made the connection when I read these as a kid. On the other hand I felt like a certified genius upon reread so win. I liked Alexa, she's a daring, headstrong and a reader - so it's really hard not to. The other characters played pretty small parts really but I liked Yipes and the other animals and Alexa's father and Grayson. I enjoyed the details of the quest - like the tunnels and the Jocastas - etched images on gemstones.

There's a little bit of violence but it's all pretty tame - perfect for younger readers. 4 stars. ( )

Alexa Daley lives in the Land of Elyon, a walled country. No one has been in the forest or outside the walls for years. Alexa soon finds herself in the woods, far away from the safety of the walls. However, she was chosen to solve why the barriers exist.

Meh. It was okay.l I never really understood why she had this overwhelming desire to find a way outside the wall, not why she was "the chosen one." Kids will like it, though, and it's not bad. ( )

The Land of Elyon looks at a world that has walled off from a mysterious threat. Alexa Daley takes a risk and ventures out to discover the secrets and comes face to face with something she never expected. ( )

As fascinating as this book sounded, I can't say that I really enjoyed it. The book as a whole just felt... well, rather passive. There was a lot of telling, a fair amount of summary, and it seemed like most of the action of the story happened outside of the story, either in the background or before the novel's start. On the whole, I liked the ideas, and I wanted to know more about the characters, but there just wasn't a whole lot to engage with -- as if the author gave us the broad strokes of the story, and rather rushed through the parts that involved more than the character sitting and thinking, or talking to others. As a kid, I would have gotten bored and wandered away; as an adult, I found my way to the finish... but more out of determination than interest, I'm afraid.

I doubt I'll read the second one, though it's already on my shelf. ( )